Transmetal Madness
by TVfan
Summary: Sixth in series The Maximals must deal with new Predicon clones, but are the clones Megatron's real weapon, or is there something else going on?
1. Chapter 1

Beast Wars and all characters and things related are copyright and trademark of Hasbro and Mainframe Entertainment. This work, however, is the original work of the author.

Note: This story takes place shortly after "Deep Trouble".

Transmetal Madness

By TVfan

**Predicon Base**

"The first frame is ready, Megatron," Ravage reported as he pressed a button on a small computer console that once Scorpinok's lab on the Darkside.

"Excellent," the large red dragon transformer smiled as he moved to examine the robotic frame that stood on a raised platform in front of him, "Does it have the improvements I added to the design?"

Ravage slowly nodded, "Yes Megatron, all that remains is to test the 'transmetal driver'."

"I still don't see WHY we are doing this," Tarantulus grumbled as he stepped behind the Predicon tyrant, "We failed miserably the last time we tried this."

Megatron ignored the transmetal spider's comment. Tarantulus chose to continue.

"You're likely to be beaten again," Tarantulus said.

"That is a most likely outcome," Megatron answered with a half humorous tone, "But again, you have failed to grasp the BIG picture."

Tarantulus backed away quickly as Megatron turned to face him.

"This," Megatron said gesturing to the work that Ravage was doing, "Is to prepare us for later operations against the Maximals. If these constructs kill a Maximal or two, that would be perfect, but I have no doubt that they will overcome these constructs. Optimus has a bad habit pulling off tricks like that. The point of this exercise is to test the transmetal driver that Rampage and Depthcharge, while we had him, recovered. Then while the Maximals wrestle with the constructs, we can tend to far more… important manners."

Megatron's face then became deadly serious, "Now, Tarantulus, do you understand or should I explain it to you again?"

Tarantulus watched to see that Megatron had opened the compartment in which he stored his and Rampage's spark fragments and quickly shook his head.

"No, Megatron," Tarantulus said very quickly, "I understand perfectly."

"Good," Megatron said coldly, once again turning his back on Tarantulus.

"The 'transmetal driver' is ready," Ravage reported, indicating to the recently discovered alien device hooked up an energy projection unit.

"Excellent," Megatron smiled again, "Activate the device."

Ravage nodded and pulled a nearby switch with his left hand. The transmetal driver immediately began to glow bright red as the devices it was connected to began to activate the device. How the alien and Cybertronian technology were so easily compatible was unexplainable to the Predicons, but Megatron didn't largely care. He saw the device work and saw the results it produced, and those results were exactly what he predicted.

"Excellent," Megatron smiled.

**The Valley**

Dinobot and Rapther slowly moved through the thick bushes of the large valley they were in. As they went they occasionally saw a few early humans moving about in larger clearings. Rapther noticed that one large early human was carrying the axe-like weapon that Dinobot had used in their first battle in this valley.

Then as they turned to leave the valley, Dinobot stopped suddenly. Rapther noticed and stopped as well.

"What is it?" the transmetal female asked.

"Something is moving in those bushes just opposite us," Dinobot answered, "I can see it."

Rapther focus her own optics to see that the male raptor was correct. There was something moving amongst the plants, making them move.

"Rapther to base, is there anyone else on patrol in this area?" Rapther asked.

"No," came Rhinox's voice over the radio, "Blackarachnia and Silverbolt are ten clicks to your north and Cheetor and Rattrap are five clicks to your south. Are you in any danger?"

"Not at the moment," Dinobot answered, "But something is moving slowly ahead of us. Like it is hunting."

"Keep your distance," Rhinox advised, "It may only be an animal hunting."

Just as Rhinox finished giving his advice, two red laser blasts came from the area in which Dinobot had spotted the movement. The blast sent both Maximals flying as Dinobot was thrown against one tree while Rapther was thrown against another.

"It isn't an animal," Rapther yelled back quickly, "Whatever it is, it just shot at us."

Rapther and Dinobot quickly transformed to robot mode and fired their primary weapons in the direction of the where the lasers came from. Their fire did nothing as Dinobot quickly noticed that whatever it was had moved shortly after it fired.

"Do you need assistance?" Rhinox asked over the radio.

"Not at the moment," Dinobot answered as he fired his optics lasers in the direction of where he saw the movement.

Dinobot heard a screech as his lasers hit their mark, but he soon saw that whatever it was was still moving, as if they had no affect on it.

"What is this?" Dinobot snarled as he eyed the creature's movements.

The attacking force then fired again. Dinobot saw the blast in time to avoid being hit, but Rapther was hit again and skidded to a stop a few feet from the male raptor.

"Slag," Rapther cursed, "Where is it, should be the question. It moves too fast, too much for my rockets to be able to hit it."

"We must get it to reveal itself first," Dinobot snarled, "I will not close in close combat with something when I don't know what it is."

Almost as if he had asked it to appear, their attacker then appeared. Leaping from the tall grass a white and blue colored raptor with red eyes practically flew through the air until it landed on Rapther's back and dug its talons into her. Rapther hissed with pain as the creature's talons cut through her transmetal armor like it was nothing. She tried to throw it off of her, but it forced her to the ground so that she was laying face down.

"What the…?" Dinobot exclaimed before he could fully react to what had just happened.

The raptor the reached out with its jaws and clamped down on Dinobot's arm before he could raise his sword to strike the raptor. Dinobot screamed with pain as the attacking raptor nearly bit through his arm completely. Dinobot then fired his optics lasers at the attacking raptor's head, hoping to destroy it completely. He only succeeded in getting it to release his arm from its vice-like grip. The section of his arm that was bitten was hanging by a few wires and pieces of robotic skeleton. Dinobot then lunged forward and plowed his other shoulder into the attacking raptor, knocking it off of Rapther.

"We need to get out of here," Rapther said, "It's going to kill us if we don't leave."

"No," Dinobot answered, "I will remain. You report to Optimus that…"

"You will come with me back to base and that is final," Rapther said slowly and icily, "That thing bit off half of your arm and it clawed me in the back at the same time. We aren't in any condition to be fighting this thing on our own."

Dinobot sighed and slowly began to follow Rapther back toward the Ark. Strangely; the attacking raptor did not follow them. Dinobot inwardly sighed at his own act of cowardice, but kept going. If it followed them, he might have to provide cover anyway.

**Predicon Base**

"Excellent!" Megatron smiled in triumph as he watched the raptor clone send both Dinobot and Rapther running toward the Ark through a set special video recording systems that where in the raptor clone's eyes, "Not only does the transmetal driver work, but it appears that at least one of the clones is superior to both a transmetal and the old technology."

"I wish you'd let me do the killing though," Rampage grumbled in front him.

"There will be plenty for you, later, yes," Megatron laughed, "Switch cameras. I want to see how the other clone is doing."

"Yes sir, boss," Quickstrike answered and then began pressing a few buttons, causing the screen that Megatron was watching to change from the raptor clone's camera to another clone's camera.

Before Megatron could fully enjoy himself watching how the next clone did, Waspinator flew into the Predicon base's command center and landed right in front of Megatron.

"Report," Megatron commanded.

"Waspinator has carried out Dragonbot's command to take transmetal driver to secret lab," Waspinator answered.

"Good," Megatron smiled, "That will be all for now. Just sit back and enjoy the show. Things are about to get interesting."

**Rocky Gorge**

Silverbolt and Blackarachnia, both in robot mode, walked casually along a narrow canyon. Like Dinobot and Rapther's patrol, they had so far come across nothing unusual. There was nothing more then rocks laying about.

"How can you do this?" Blackarachnia complained, "Walking around looking at nothing."

"It's a patrol," Silverbolt answered, "Our duty is to patrol the ground that we control and make sure there are no enemy Predicons out here."

"I'll tell you now there are no enemy Predicons out here," Blackarachnia said back, "This area is a wasteland and of no interest to Megatron."

Almost as if on cue, a laser shot came out of nowhere and knocked Silverbolt to the ground.

"What the…?" Blackarachnia exclaimed while looking back at Silverbolt and then looking around the walls of gorge they were in.

"I should have seen that one coming," Silverbolt mumbled from the ground before picking himself up and speaking into his radio, "This is Silverbolt to base. We have enemy contact in Grid Chasm."

"Do you know how many there are?" Rhinox's voice asked over the radio, "Dinobot and Rapther were just attacked by some unknown force about ten minutes ago."

Silverbolt scanned the area and sighed, "Unfortunately, no."

"I'll have Depthcharge get up to your position," Rhinox answered, "Optimus will be back from his patrol shortly and then he will join you."

"That won't be necessary," Silverbolt answered, "Blackarachnia and I can take care of it."

Then another laser shot was fired. This time Silverbolt managed to see that it was coming from inside a cave at the top of the gorge. The fuzor immediately took the air and fired two feather missiles into the cave. He saw the explosion they caused and he saw several rocks tumble out of the cave, but he didn't know if he hit what was shooting at Blackarachnia and himself. He was proven that he had missed before when a laser blast came out of the cave and hit him squarely in the chest as he flew past the cave entrance. Silverbolt fired another round of feather missiles into the cave as he was blasted back to the earth below, and while he was pretty sure he missed his target yet again, he saw that they completely destroyed the structural integrity of the cave itself. The cave collapsed upon itself and both Blackarachnia and Silverbolt then watched a massive explosion take place after the rocks had fallen in.

"Scratch one Predicon," Blackarachnia laughed.

Silverbolt nodded and began to fly up again. He had to bring some evidence back to base that a Predicon was destroyed and to identify which Predicon it was.

**Predicon Base**

Megatron sighed heavily as the spider clone was destroyed.

"I told you this would fail," Tarantulus cackled from the back end of the command center.

"Again, the clone's mission was to test the transmetal driver," Megatron said harshly, retrieving the energon cage, "This is merely a little fun to occupy our time before the real work begins. Any Maximal that is destroyed is simply a bonus."

Megatron then squeezed the energon cube and sent Tarantulus sprawling to the floor.

"We should make further preparations for the next part of the overall plan," Ravage advised, "Even though this is merely a distraction for the Maximals, it is likely that they will learn about our possession of the transmetal driver."

Megatron nodded, "Take care of the preparations, yes. Do you have the list of instructions that need to be done?"

"Yes, Megatron," Ravage answered, holding up a data pad.

Megatron took the data pad and handed it to Waspinator. Waspinator gulped as he held it and as the Predicon tyrant gave his next command.

"You and I will have some work to do, Waspinator, yes," Megatron smiled, "Inferno, Ravage, you two are to maintain command here. Tarantulus, you are to lead the remaining clones in minor skirmish in the valley to make sure the Maximals do not interfere with my plans."

"Yes, Royalty," Inferno saluted.

Megatron transformed to his beast mode and flew out of the Predicon base with Waspinator following close behind.

"Could you send instructions to the remaining clones, telling them to wait for me at the edge of the valley?" Tarantulus asked to Ravage.

Ravage nodded, but also indicated for Tarantulus to get going. The transmetal tarantula then left at high speed in his vehicle mode.

**The Ark**

"Amazing," Rhinox said in a voice that was filled with awe as he examined the fragment that Silverbolt and Blackarachnia had brought in.

Strangely it looked like a spider's leg.

"What is it?" Optimus asked.

"First of all, it wasn't a Predicon that was destroyed in that cave, at least not a Predicon in the way we would think," Rhinox explained, "Especially if it anything like what Dinobot and Rapther encountered. It's probably a clone, like the clone that Megatron tried to use to infiltrate our base early in the war."

"How do ya know that?" Rattrap demanded.

Rhinox held up the leg.

"This fragment for one thing," Rhinox answered, "It's clearly a spider-like leg, but its armor is more like Optimus's, a transmetal 2, which Tarantulus, the only spider fighting for the Predicons at this time isn't."

Rhinox watched the others nod before continuing, "Dinobot and Rapther's encounter is another thing. They were attacked by a raptor, like themselves, yet it didn't talk and more importantly, it didn't transform. No transformer would engage in such combat without taking on its robot form first, and no clone can transform."

"And most Predicons always seem to taunt their opponents while they fight," Optimus sighed, "Attacking in 'beast mode' and not taunting is rather unusual behavior for a Predicon. So we're dealing with clones again. Any ideas as how we can destroy them?"

"More importantly, how was Megatron able to make them transmetal twos?" Dinobot growled, "He does not have access to the original Megatron or Optimus Prime."

"The transmetal driver," Depthcharge said weakly from the back of the room.

"What?" Optimus asked.

"While Megatron still had me under his control, he sent Rampage and I on a search to find something he called a transmetal driver," Depthcharge answered, "Saying that it was the aliens who invented transmetal technology and therefore had to have a driver to do it."

"He's using alien technology," Optimus sighed, "Prime."

"Uh, guys," Cheetor cut in, "I don't mean to interrupt the important conversation and all, but sensors indicate that two metallic beings left the Pred base and headed east while there are three metallic beings at the edge of the valley where Dinobot and Rapther were attacked."

Optimus sighed again, "Prime. Dinobot, Cheetor, I want you two to follow the two that just left the Predicon base. Move as fast as you can, but do not engage."

Cheetor gave a nervous glance at Dinobot, who looked very agitated ever since he came out of the CR chamber but nodded and followed the male raptor out.

"Rapther, Depthcharge, Rattrap, and Silverbolt, you're with me and we'll deal with the Predicons in the valley," Optimus commanded, "We'll try to catch up to Dinobot and Cheetor afterward. Rhinox, Blackarachnia, guard the base."

Optimus and the others then left at high speed to deal with the new Predicon threat.

**The Valley**

Tarantulus scanned the valley with his optics. There was no sign of any Maximal in the nearby region and he sighed before the two remaining clones before him. One was the white and blue raptor clone that had attacked Dinobot and Rapther and the other was brownish colored cheetah clone. The transmetal spider did see, however, that there were several early humans in the area.

"Come then," Tarantulus sighed and switched to his vehicle mode once more and charged toward the early humans.

The clones ran quickly after them.

The laser fire by the clones quickly attracted the attention of the Maximals headed to stop them. Optimus, Depthcharge, and Silverbolt were the first to arrive.

"There they are," Silverbolt pointed, "One raptor clone and apparently one cheetah clone and Tarantulus is leading them."

"Take Tarantulus out," Optimus commanded, "He's likely to be the brains behind them. I'll deal with the clones directly."

Silverbolt nodded and readied his wing missiles and then fired them down towards Tarantulus. The explosion made the Predicon tip upwards and exposed much of his back to Deptcharge, who took his shark blaster and hit Tarantulus with a single shot. The transmetal tarantula was blown into a nearby tree.

Meanwhile, Optimus in vehicle mode dove down and began to strafe the two clones with his blasters. The raptor clone was knocked to the ground, but the cheetah clone was fast enough to avoid taking any serious hits. Both fired on Optimus as he flew overhead, but his speed through air made both shots go behind him. Optimus quickly circled around to make another pass.

Rapther and Rattrap arrived right as Optimus began to turn and looked at the situation. The two clones were trading shots with Optimus while Tarantulus was firing his shoulder mounted machine guns at both Silverbolt and Depthcharge.

"Man, why does Megabutt gotta clone people?" Rattrap grumbled, "You and Dinobot are enough to deal with. Why does he got to add another saurian."

Rattrap then fired a series of shots from his blaster at the raptor clone. It forced the robot to take a few steps back, but did no real damage.

"Look at it this way," Rapther offered as she fired a barrage of her rockets at both clones, "At least you can shoot this raptor."

"And dat is half the fun," Rattrap smiled as he fired again.

The combination of Rapther's rockets and Rattrap's shots knocked the raptor clone to the ground, and a second strafing run from Optimus blew it back a few more feet. The cheetah clone in response fired at Optimus again, but the transmetal-two gorilla flew faster then the clone's laser and began to turn around again. Then, the clone noticed Rattrap and Rapther standing nearby, and began running at a dead sprint toward them.

"Uh oh," Rattrap muttered as he saw the clone coming right toward them.

The transmetal rat fired several blasts at the charging clone. Most hit, but the clone's armor protected it and it kept on coming. Once it got half way to the two Maximals it fired its lasers from its eyes and knocked Rattrap back into a nearby tree. Optimus meanwhile noticed the clones attacked and lined himself up hit it before it had a chance to close on Rattrap and Rapther.

Tarantulus saw the Maximal leader's move and decided to counter it. With a quick burst of machine gun fire, he forced Silverbolt to dodge in front of Depthcharge, taking away any chance the transmetal manta ray had to shoot the Predicon. Then Tarantulus simply waited for his own shot to develop.

Optimus had nearly gotten into position where he could fire on the charging cheetah clone, when he suddenly felt hundreds of machine gun rounds impacting the guns that were on his back while in vehicle mode. Those guns were not as well protected as the rest of him, and Optimus cringed as he felt one of his blasters shut down as the impact of the bullets damaged it. On top of this, the bullets knocked him off his intended flight path and the Maximal leader ended up crashing through several trees before he was able to right himself.

Meanwhile the raptor clone had recovered and looked up to see two Maximals flying in the air above him. One was a transmetal manta ray and other, a fuzor. Both were focused on something else and weren't paying attention to him. The raptor then activated his lasers and fired.

Depthcharge had finally gotten a clear shot at Tarantulus when he felt a powerful laser blast hit him in his right beast mode fin, which served as a wing while in robot mode. It pushed him into Silverbolt, sending his wing missiles off target. Another laser blast hit his lower leg flipping the transmetal manta ray over and a third blast hit him squarely in the chest, sending him plummeting to the ground below.

"Depthcharge!" Silverbolt yelled.

The fuzor then looked to see that the clones had divided their forces. The raptor clone was standing alone on a hill, with its eyes glowing red. It was this clone that had shot Depthcharge down.

"Oh this simply will not do," Silverbolt sighed and dove toward the clone, his wing missiles ready.

Once it was close enough, the cheetah clone leaped at the two Maximals. It flew through the air, paws extended and landed on top of Rapther. The transmetal female managed to get her hands up and block the clone's attempt to sink its fangs into her neck, but she new that much was only a stalemate. Her beast mode arms, which functioned as her rocket launchers in robot mode, were pinned beneath her and the clone could fire its lasers at any time.

"Hey Rattrap, some help would be nice!" Rapther called out as the clone's eyes began to glow red.

"I'm comin'," Rattrap grumbled as he pulled himself up from the tree that he had been knocked into earlier.

He looked to see the cheetah clone trying to bite Rapther's neck. Rapther had a firm grip on the clone's neck and was preventing the clone from biting, but it was preparing to fire its lasers on her.

"Oh no ya don't," Rattrap growled and fired six shots from his own blaster.

The shots hit the clone in its side and where successful at knocking the clone off of Rapther. Rattrap's victory was short lived however, as the clone then fired its lasers at him and knocked him back again. Rapther sat up and fired another barrage of her rockets at the clone, but was only successful at forcing the clone to take a step back. The cheetah clone prepared to leap at Rapther again when a large hand suddenly grabbed it by the back of the neck.

"That is a strict, no-no," Optimus said coldly shaking a finger at the clone.

The Maximal leader then maneuvered his grip so that he was holding the clone's head with both hands. It struggled and clawed at the sides of his hands, but that did little and its lasers couldn't hit him unless he changed the angle at which he was holding the clone. Optimus then put the squeeze on the clone and after a few seconds, the clone's head was crushed. Optimus then dropped the offline clone to the ground.

"One down, and one to go," Optimus sighed.

A round of machine gun bullets then flew through the air and ricocheted off of Optimus's armor and Rapther was forced to take a step back as a few rounds hit her.

"I'm beginning to get tired of him," Optimus groaned as he turned toward Tarantulus.

"Rattrap and I will take care of him," Rapther said, "You deal with the other clone."

Optimus nodded and moved toward the open area where Silverbolt and Depthcharge where dealing with the raptor clone.

The raptor clone dodged Silverbolt's first attempt at attacking it, but the explosion of the fuzor's feather missiles allowed Depthcharge to recover his gun and fire at the clone. Depthcharge's attack hit it in the head and knocked the clone over. It got up and fired its lasers at the transmetal manta ray and forced Depthcharge to take a step back. The clone also began to charge toward Depthcharge as he was the closest Maximal that was on the ground.

Silverbolt circled around again and fired his feather missiles again. This time he hit the clone in the back with both missiles, but only made it stumble slightly. Its charge toward Depthcharge continued unchecked.

The clone was about half way to Depthcharge when a powerful energy blast hit the clone in the side and knocked him to the ground. The clone looked up to see that Optimus had now joined the battle against him and had fired on him with the one blaster he had left. The clone fired on Optimus before it even got up. Optimus only activated the jet boosters in his feet and flew over the clone. He then activated the one blaster he had left and fired again.

This attack cracked the clone's outer layer of transmetal-two armor. Depthcharge meanwhile aimed his own blaster at the wounded clone and added his firepower to Optimus's. The blast from Depthcharge's shark blaster knocked the damaged pieces of armor off of the clone and exposed its internal framework. From the air, Silverbolt saw his chance and fired his feather missiles at the damaged section of the clone's armor.

The missiles hit their target and when they exploded the clone was essentially blown in half as the missiles easily penetrated through the interior armor of the clone very easily. Optimus and Depthcharge looked on as the clone went offline.

"That takes care of him," Optimus sighed.

"I could have taken care of him on my own," Depthcharge snorted.

Optimus nodded, ignoring him, "Come on. We got to make sure that Tarantulus is beaten as well."

Tarantulus growled in frustration as he fired his machine guns at the two Maximals he was facing. Optimus had literally crushed the first clone and had now gone on to defeat the second clone. Rapther and Rattrap were now advancing on him and firing on him when he had the chance. The transmetal spider finally called it quits when he saw the other clone explode.

"I'm not going to stay here and get slagged by five Maximals," Tarantulus thought to himself and with a closing salvo, he switched to vehicle mode and speed off in the direction of the Predicon base.

"Yeah, run ya chicken!" Rattrap yelled after him as Tarantulus speed away.

"Alright, enough of that," Optimus said calmly as he walked up.

"What now, Optimus?" Silverbolt asked.

"We have to continue with the plan and try to figure out what Megatron is up to with this transmetal driver," Optimus answered, "Rattrap, Rapther, I want you two to take the remains of these clones back to the Ark. The more Rhinox has to examine, the better chance we have of understanding this technology."

Rapther and Rattrap nodded and began walking back. Optimus meanwhile turned to face Silverbolt and Depthcharge.

"Meanwhile, the rest of us are going to try and catch up with Dinobot and Cheetor," Optimus said in a firm voice, "While our scanners indicated that two beings went east from the Predicon base, we have to assume that at least one of them is Megatron. We need to figure out what he's up to."

"Wouldn't it be wise to at least send one of us back to guard the base?" Silverbolt asked, "This could be some diversion. With us here and two headed east it would leave the Ark practically unguarded. I'll even volunteer to go back myself."

"Yeah," Depthcharge agreed, "Megatron would attack the Ark the way we are now. Two out near his base. Five here in the valley and two more at the Ark. With five at the Ark and four near his base, Megatron might not be so willing to attack."

"Agreed," Optimus nodded, "I'll need you to stay behind then, Silverbolt. I'll need Depthcharge's firepower, and he has a slight advantage on you in speed."

Silverbolt nodded and returned to beast mode and began flying toward the Ark.

"Come on," Optimus sighed as he transformed to his vehicle mode again, "We've got a lot of ground to cover."

**Elsewhere**

"We're never going to get there in time to figure out what Megatron is up to," Cheetor sighed as he and Dinobot ran toward the mountains to the east of the Predicon base, "We've got to move carefully to avoid being detected by Sentinel. On top of that Megatron has a head start and we have to travel farther. And I can't fly with you going with me."

"A true warrior does not fear long odds, but accepts them as a challenge of his skill," Dinobot answered, "Megatron is at heart a coward and bully. While devious and cunning, finding out what he is up to is the least important issue we have. We must be able to stop him once we get to him."

"Optimus told us that we're only supposed to find out what he's up to," Cheetor answered, "And besides, neither of us have any weapons that would be good against Megatron with that new transmetal-two armor of his."

Dinobot then ignored the transmetal cheetah's comments and kept running.

**Predicon Base**

"I knew this would fail," Tarantulus grumbled as he made his way back into the Predicon base.

The transmetal tarantula found Inferno walking balk and forth in the style of a military guard near Megatron's command chair while Ravage worked on some computer panel. Quickstrike and Rampage were absent from the area.

"Well, I've finished my part in Megatron's grand failure," Tarantulus announced.

Both Inferno and Ravage turned to look at him.

"Good, you have returned," Inferno said simply and returned to 'guard duty'.

"I would not assume that the plan is a failure from what you have encountered," Ravage said calmly and returned to his work.

"So that driver works," Tarantulus grumbled, "All of the clones were destroyed and I very nearly could have."

Ravage ignored him.

"What more can Megatron possibly do?" Tarantulus demanded.

"Activate the protoforms that were recovered earlier," Ravage answered in a calm voice.

**Secret Predicon Lab**

Waspinator plugged two red wires into a port on the side of the second stasis pod that Megatron had recovered. The Predicon wasp then brought up a welding torch and welded the stasis pod's metal frame to the wires so that the wires could not be removed. Once he was done, he turned to Megatron, who was looking out the lab's entrance.

"Waspinator has finished preparatory work on the stasis pods," Waspinator announced in his buzzing voice.

"Excellent," Megatron smiled and turned to face the two stasis pods.

Megatron slowly advanced toward the two pods and opened the doors revealing the two sparkles protoforms inside. Megatron then opened the compartment where he normally kept the energon cages for Rampage and Tarantulus's sparks. What he produced however was not two energon cages, but what looked like two actual sparks.

"It is time that my plans for final victory to be unleashed!" Megatron announced triumphantly as he inserted each spark into a protoform body.

Megatron smiled again as he saw the two sparks come to life inside their new bodies. He then shut the stasis pod doors.

"Now to begin the activation process," Megatron smiled.

**To be Continued…**


	2. Chapter 2

Beast Wars and all characters and things related are copyright and trademark of Hasbro and Mainframe Entertainment. This work, however, is the original work of the author.

Note: This story takes place shortly after "Deep Trouble".

Transmetal Madness, Chapter 2

By TVfan

**Secret Predicon Lab**

"Is the brain programming ready?" Megatron demanded as he turned to face Waspinator.

"Yes, Master," Waspinator buzzed back, in an 'Igor' like manner.

Megatron sighed at the wasp's answer and wondered what attracted him to early twentieth century Earth movies. Cybertron only knew of them from research drones that flew past Earth regularly and collected data on everything about the planet.

"Enough of that idiocy," Megatron growled, "Is it ready?"

Waspinator gulped, "Yes."

"Good," Megatron nodded, "Attach its transfer cords to the stasis pods."

Waspinator carefully moved to place each cord inside the computer brain programming imports each of the two stasis pods that Megatron was preparing to activate.

"Now to program the one on the right," Megatron smiled as he turned to the computer consoles before him.

He took one data disk and inserted it into the console. After a brief period of loading, a preprogrammed set of characteristics of the planned Predicon appeared on the computer screen before Megatron. He smiled again as he pressed the load button, sending that information to the stasis pod that was on his right.

**Nearby**

"Are you sure that's their lab?" Cheetor asked.

Dinobot's optics narrowed on the cave opening that was at the top of a very crooked mountain. He could even see that there was a beam of energy flowing from the bottom of the portion of the mountain that jutted out over a deep chasm.

"Yes," Dinobot growled, "Fly past the cave and take a look in. I will try to follow you from the ground."

"It could take you awhile," Cheetor pointed out, "Don't you think we should wait for Optimus and the others?"

"Then it would be too late," Dinobot answered, "We have no choice but to go in as quickly as we can. You can fly, I can run."

"Okay," Cheetor sighed and converted to his vehicle mode and flew off toward the cave.

Dinobot, meanwhile, began to sprint towards the mountain in preparation of trying to climb it.

**Predicon Lab**

"And now to activate the transmetal driver," Megatron smiled as he turned to another computer panel that was connected to the alien device.

Megatron then pressed a single red button that was on the computer panel and activated the driver. The alien sphere lit up with a bright red light as it sent its energies into the first of the two stasis pods. Its energy even made the pod itself take on a slight red glow. Megatron smiled as he watched, while Waspinator stood nervously nearby. After a few seconds there was a beeping noise that came from the main computer panels. Megatron approached it and then smiled.

"The first one is ready," Megatron smiled, "Turn off the transmetal driver for now."

Waspinator gulped and turned the alien device off. Megatron meanwhile moved to inspect the first stasis pod. Slowly the first stasis pod door opened and revealed the transformer inside. Waspinator had all he could do to keep from fainting at the sight of the transformer.

It was a metallic red and lavender pterodactyl that hopped out of the stasis pod in its beast mode. It's long needle like beak, other then it's general appearance did not look like it could belong to an animal with no 'nostrils' and its glowing red eyes gave it a fairly frightening appearance. It also looked as though there was a powerful laser weapon in the crest that jutted out from the top of its head. It had long arms that had only three large fingers. The claws were rather thin and looked like they could cut through just about anything. The strong metals that made up its wing membranes appeared able to bend whenever the transformer moved its arms. It hopped forward on short legs that had feet that held claws much like the ones on it its 'hands'.

It studied itself for a few moments before it noticed Megatron and hopped toward the large dragon transformer.

"Welcome 'back', Terrorsaur," Megatron smiled.

The transformer switched to its robot mode and acknowledged Megatron.

"It is good to serve you again, Megatron," the new Terrorsaur nodded.

The new Terrorsaur's beast mode wasn't a drastic modification from its beast mode. Its beast mode head moved onto the center of its back and a helmeted head came up vertically from open shoulder space. The outer parts the helmet were fairly smooth, but the transformer's face was slightly different. It appeared that this Terrorsaur was looking through two built out monocles for optics and unlike the first transformer with the same name, this version had sharp pointed teeth.

"That not Terrorbot," Waspinator said nervously from the background, "Terrorbot dead."

Megatron waved Terrorsaur off from attacking the wasp, and turned to face Waspinator.

"Yes," Megatron smiled, "The original Terrorsaur is dead, but this is a new Terrorsaur. One who is much improved over the previous model and an improvement over what has survived the war so far."

Waspinator gulped and began slowly stepping away.

"And now for the other stasis pod," Megatron smiled as he turned back to the computer console.

**Below the lab**

Cheetor quickly got to the mountain, well ahead of Dinobot, since the transmetal cheetah could fly. Cheetor, however did not run into a favorable situation as several laser emplacements suddenly opened out of rock crevices in the around the opening in the bottom of the ledge that the cave entrance was sitting on. The fired in rapid succession and Cheetor felt a few of them nick him, but thankfully they didn't seem to be too powerful and Cheetor quickly maneuvered to try and avoid the shots and continue up toward the cave. He found that the lasers never fired close to the heavy energy band that went from the bottom of the ledge to the ground well below him. The transmetal cheetah then began to fly around the energy beam, being careful not to touch it, but staying close to it.

At the base of the mountain, Dinobot looked up to see Cheetor's struggle against the lasers. The younger transformer had already had to slow down and was hugging the energy beam. It would take him awhile to get past those lasers, and this made Dinobot sigh. He also noticed that the back slope of the mountain was significantly easier to climb then the near vertical side that he was facing. This only made Dinobot sigh again. Time was working against them.

**Predicon Lab**

Megatron smiled as the brain programming for the second transformer came online and was loaded inside the second stasis pod. Waspinator stood nervously near the cave entrance while the new Terrorsaur stood near Megatron himself.

"And now for the DNA," Megatron said in a triumphant voice, and opened a small compartment on one of his shoulders.

Megatron then grabbed a data disk that he had stored there and placed it inside the terminal he was working at and activated the download that would send the computerized DNA into the protoform. Then all Megatron had to do was to activate the transmetal driver again and the second stasis pod would be activated.

Below the lab, Cheetor was nearing the bottom of the ledge and would need to make his move to make it to the cave entrance. The transmetal cheetah however noticed that the lasers were far more accurate at his range, and it was now much more difficult for him to avoid being nicked by the laser shots. Knowing it was now or never, Cheetor banked hard to avoid getting hit, when suddenly a new set of fixed laser emplacements opened up on him and hit the Maximal at point blank range.

Cheetor screamed with pain as the lasers hit him and drove back where he was hit easily by the other laser emplacements. Their hits combined with the new laser emplacements knocked him into the main energy beam that was coming out the from the bottom of the ledge. Cheetor let lose a pain filled scream that could be heard for miles.

Dinobot, by now had reached the top of the mountain, and he heard Cheetor's screams. He cursed angrily under his breath. Running up the mountain had taken a lot out of him, and he knew he could not go to Cheetor's rescue, since the transmetal cheetah was still in the air. Deciding his best option was to shut down whatever machinery Megatron had running inside the cave, Dinobot leaped down to the part of the ledge in front of the cave entrance.

Megatron was on the verge of triumphal laughter as he pressed the red button to activate the transmetal driver, this time to help activate the second protoform. The alien device lit up with its red light and began sending energy into the stasis pod as the activation process continued. Megatron's focus on his work was halted when he suddenly heard Waspinator screaming.

Megatron turned to see that Dinobot had somehow found and entered his hidden lab and had seized Waspinator by the neck.

"Help me!" Waspinator screamed as Dinobot then physically threw the Predicon in the new Terrorsaur, knocking the transmetal two transformer into Megatron.

Dinobot then began firing his optics lasers at the various computer terminals around the lab; hoping one was controlling the lasers that were targeting Cheetor. One of his shots cut through the wires that were connected to Megatron's transmetal driver and energy from the alien device began to flood the room itself as the wires shook under the flowing energy's power.

Dinobot did his best to try and dodge the energy beam flying out of the damaged wire, but it was to no avail, as it hit Dinobot in the chest. The raptor screamed with pain as it threw him into a fair wall of the cave before he blacked out.

Cheetor continued to scream as he was caught in the energy ribbon that the fixed laser emplacements forced him into. While the transmetal cheetah felt intense pain, he also felt strange. Part of it came from the energy beam he was trapped in. It didn't feel like raw power, more along the lines of the quantum surge. It was still causing him pain, and Cheetor struggled to break free. In the end, his struggles were in vain, and the last thing he saw before he suddenly fell into stasis lock, was a strange red glow overtaking his body.

"Waspinator not want to go through that again," Waspinator said as he pulled himself back to his feet.

The new Terrorsaur shoved the wasp aside so he could get up. Megatron meanwhile tried to restrain himself from laughing. Dinobot's attack had done some damage to the machinery, but nothing serious. The most important part of the whole works, the transmetal driver, appeared to be indestructible, thanks to Ravage's previous scans to determine its properties. Waspinator was getting nervous over nothing.

Megatron quickly moved to inspect the transmetal driver. It was undamaged. The Predicon tyrant was then distracted by a new noise. He turned to see that it was the stasis pod door opening as metallic looking scorpion came out on eight pointed legs. It was mostly grey and gold in color and its eyes glowed with the same red glow that the new Terrorsaur's eyes did. Its pincers were narrow and its tail ended with a visible stinger.

"Scorpinok, terrorize!" the transformer announced.

The transformer then took on its robot mode. The upper half of its body remained as the lower half split down to form its lower torso and hips. Thin but powerful legs folded down, having clearly been stored inside the transformer while it was in its beast mode. One of the plates on its back opened to let its robot mode head come up, its visor-like optics glowed bright red. Its beast mode legs remained visible and they moved slightly as the new 'Scorpinok' approached Megatron.

"And what is your purpose, Scorpinok?" Megatron questioned.

"To serve you, Megatron," the new Scorpinok answered.

Megatron smiled, "Excellent."

"Um, Waspinator has a question," Waspinator spoke up from the background.

Megatron groaned and turned to face the nervous wasp. He was standing near the transmetal driver and was actually facing something lying behind hit.

"What is it?" Megatron demanded icily.

"What is that?" Waspinator asked, pointing at whatever was laying there on the lab floor.

Megatron shoved Waspinator aside as he came forward to see what the wasp was asking about. What he saw was a complete surprise to him, because it wasn't something he thought was possible.

"It might be an opportunity, yes," Megatron smiled, "Waspinator, get the transmetal driver back to the base. Terrorsaur, carry Scorpinok. I will deal with this."

Megatron then shifted to his beast mode and seized the thing that had aroused Waspinator's curiosity in his talons. The three Predicons that could fly then took off with their prize.

**Elsewhere**

"I don't like this," Depthcharge mumbled as he and Optimus began flying toward the mountain range that Dinobot and Cheetor had earlier entered.

"It couldn't be helped," Optimus sighed, "We had to deal with those clones. We had to divide our forces."

"It's not the fact that we divided our forces, but that you sent that kid out with the Predicon," Depthcharge growled, "How are you going to feel when that raptor shows his true colors?"

"I've had enough of your criticism over Dinobot," Optimus answered, "He is on our side and would never betray us."

"I still don't trust him," Depthcharge answered.

The transmetal manta ray was about to say more when several laser shots interrupted them. Both looked to see the shots were coming from the bottom side of a ledge that poked out from in front of the rest of the mountain it was on. The shots didn't do much damage to the Maximal leader and Depthcharge, but they did force them to stop their forward movement.

"I've had enough of this," Depthcharge growled and fired his shark blaster at the mountain.

Depthcharge's shot destroyed much of the rock on the underside of the ledge, revealing a metal defense system built into the mountain. Optimus then aimed his own blasters at the defense system. The second shot destroyed the laser emplacements.

"I'd say we found wherever those two Predicons went to," Depthcharge guessed.

Optimus nodded, "There's a cave on the top part of that ledge. Let's go."

The two Maximals flew and landed inside the cave. They found various pieces of damaged machinery and computer panels. Many of them looked like they had been hit by laser fire.

"Man, what went down here?" Depthcharge grumbled as he kicked a damaged computer panel, which fell apart shortly after.

Optimus scanned the cavern as well as he could, searching for any sign that a transformer had been destroyed. He found no such sign, but what he did find frightened him more.

"No!" Optimus exclaimed.

"What is it?" Depthcharge demanded.

Optimus only pointed. The transmetal manta ray then turned his head to see what the Maximal commander was pointing at. There were two stasis pods held up by various support structures and were connected by wires that went to most of the computer panels.

"What in the name of the Matrix are stasis pods doing here?" Depthcharge demanded to no one in particular.

"Megatron must have found them," Optimus sighed, "We've got at least two new Predicons. The real question is why didn't he activate them from the safety of his base? Why come out here?"

"And there's no sign of Dinobot or Cheetor," Depthcharge added.

Optimus didn't answer immediately and began rubbing his chin with one of his fingers.

"Well, commander," Depthcharge said in a confrontational manner, "what do we do?"

"We return to the Ark," Optimus sighed, "Megatron's done something that we couldn't possibly anticipate and with two new Predicons, he's even more dangerous. More then likely, Cheetor and Dinobot are still together looking around many of the other mountains in this area. They may not have even found this place. They'll be fine. We need to get this information to Rhinox. He might have the best explanation for why they came all this way to activate two stasis pods."

Depthcharge only shifted to his beast mode and flew out of the cave, Optimus followed shortly thereafter. As the two Maximals left, several fallen rocks began to move slightly at the bottom of the mountain as something underneath them tried to free itself. After Optimus and Depthcharge had clearly gone out of view, a single animal-like paw pushed out of the fallen rumble as the creature that was buried under the rock stood up.

**Predicon Base**

The reaction given to the new Scorpinok and Terrorsaur were what Megatron expected from most of the Predicons. Although Ravage, Quickstrike, and Rampage having never met the originals, were quite indifferent to the two newest Predicons. It was not however, the matter concerning the new Scorpinok and Terrorsaur, but what Megatron had brought back along with the two new Predicons.

"You're certain that the transmetal driver is the cause for that?" Ravage asked.

"I would presume so," Megatron nodded.

"Interesting," Ravage commented, "Given the increased power levels that you and Optimus Primal have experienced concerning this, are you sure he's adequately restrained?"

"I'm certain he is," Megatron answered, "And he is still offline. Even when he does come back online, I'm sure he will still be in no condition to fight."

"So this transmetal driver can be used on things other then protoforms and sparkless clones?" Tarantulus asked.

Megatron nodded.

"And it can increase yer power?" Quickstrike asked, "Sign me up fer that upgrade."

"Waspinator also wants to be a transmetal," Waspinator added from the back of the room.

"That will be quite the option," Megatron smiled, "But I want Ravage to run some tests on the transmetal driver and to determine a way that the process can be duplicated, without sending the transformer into stasis lock."

"I'll be on it then," Ravage sighed as he turned and took the transmetal driver away from Waspinator and headed off towards his private lab.

"Meanwhile, I think I will go visit our guest," Megatron laughed.

Dinobot did not feel well as he came back online. He was sore from what happened when he tried to stop Megatron's defense systems from destroying Cheetor. On top of this, he felt different, like he had been made stronger somehow. But he couldn't tell because the first thing he truly noticed was that he was chained to a wall and a very heavy helmet was over his entire head, making it impossible for him to use his optics lasers.

"I see you're awake," came Megatron's voice from elsewhere in the room.

"Megatron," Dinobot growled back icily.

"Glad to see your memory chips still function," Megatron laughed, "Just what did you hope to accomplish by destroying my lab?"

"Stopping you," Dinobot snarled defiantly.

"Good job," Megatron laughed back, "Not only were you too late to stop me, you've actually provided me with quite an opportunity to destroy your comrades once and for all."

"You can't hold me here forever," Dinobot snarled as he struggled against the restraints Megatron had him in.

"I don't intend to," Megatron smiled, knowing full well that Dinobot couldn't see him, "Once Optimus and his little parade of Maximals have been destroyed, I intend to kill you in the most painful way possible."

Dinobot only snarled back as he heard Megatron leave the area.

Megatron approached Ravage quietly as the black panther transformer worked practically nonstop on the transmetal driver.

"Well?" Megatron asked.

"The device is too complex, Megatron," Ravage answered, "There's no way to tell if we can duplicate the process in a painless way or not. I can't even tell if its energies are entirely compatible with ours."

"Can you get the job done?" Megatron asked in a somewhat threatening tone.

"Not quickly," Ravage sighed, "Whoever these aliens are, they've designed their technology to incredibly tough for anyone besides themselves to analyze it. This isn't something that can be done quickly. Not unless you want an accident that could destroy your army."

"What happened in the lab was an accident," Megatron pointed out.

"True," Ravage admitted, "But it happened to a Maximal. He could have been killed doing what he did."

"Take the time you need," Megatron nodded, "We can not afford to fail."

**The Ark**

"And you found no sign of the kid or chopperface?" Rattrap asked.

"Not in the area," Optimus sighed, "Although that lab was pretty much destroyed. They might be on their way back."

"These stasis pods trouble me more," Rhinox commented from his chair, "Why would Megatron take two stasis pods out into a mountain cave to activate them? Why not use his base where it's safer?"

"I had hoped you would have the answer to that question," Optimus sighed, "I have no clue as to why Megatron was out there."

"But if the lab was destroyed, doesn't that mean that the protoforms were destroyed as well?" Blackarachnia asked, "If Megatron was there, lizard boy probably went in at full power, and we're here talking about two 'new' Predicons."

"The pod doors were open when we arrived," Depthcharge said, "And there was no sign that the protoforms were damaged, let alone destroyed."

"That means he's captured them somehow," Rapther spoke up, "If Dinobot attacked and destroyed Megatron's lab, he had to have Cheetor with him, and we all know that Megatron is too powerful an opponent to be defeated that easily."

A beeping noise distracted Rhinox for a moment as the rest argued over what was going on.

"What if they are captured?" Silverbolt asked, "What would Megatron do to them?"

"For now, I'd assume nothing," Optimus sighed, "But I don't think they've been captured."

"Then how can ya explain the damage to dat lab?" Rattrap asked.

"Yes," Blackarachnia agreed, "Megatron is too powerful for Dinobot and Cheetor to fight and consider surviving, and since you said that the stasis pods were activated, they couldn't have destroyed the pods to prevent Megatron from activating them. Megatron had to have taken them prisoner."

"I don't mean to interrupt the argument," Rhinox spoke up from his position at the Ark's sensor displays, "but we have some metallic creature wandering around the jungle area just east of the Ark. That may be either Dinobot or Cheetor now."

"You say it's 'wandering'?" Optimus questioned.

"Yes," Rhinox answered.

"I'll go," Optimus sighed, "I might get some answers out of this."

The large transmetal 2 gorilla then left the base, and took off in vehicle mode toward where Rhinox had indicated the metallic creature was. Once airborne, Optimus flew rather slowly and with specific intent. He didn't want to miss whoever this was by flying over him too quickly. The Maximal commander was then startled by something he saw on the ground as he flew over a clearing. Optimus made a great loop and landed in the same clearing.

"Now, what's this?" Optimus asked aloud as he began to walk toward the object that he saw earlier.

It was a dead antelope, killed by some kind of wild cat, judging by the bites and claw marks on it. But something was off. The animal that killed it wasn't around, and the antelope was practically torn apart. No animal that the Maximals had studied since landing on prehistoric earth did that.

Optimus then paused when he heard a strange noise coming from behind him. He turned to see two red optics glare at him from the bushes. He backed up as a feline like creature emerged from them. It was mostly tan in color, although there were some spots of a darker shade of brown or possibly black or grey. Optimus couldn't tell in the low light. It had what appeared to be a large rocket attached to its back and its saber like upper fangs protruded out over its lower jaw.

"Don't tell me it's another clone," Optimus groaned as he stepped back and activated his blasters, preparing to fire.

The creature blinked and did something Optimus totally didn't expect. Showing great fear, an almost animalistic fear, it turned and ran.

"What the?" Optimus cursed as it ran off, "Come back!"

Optimus switched into in his vehicle mode and flew after the retreating creature. He found the creature had activated the rocket on its back to increase its speed as it ran. Optimus visibly groaned as he flew after it in his vehicle mode.

"It's like running after Cheetor," Optimus sighed silently.

Finally Optimus's ability to fly got the better of the creature and he transformed to robot mode and caught the creature in one hand in one motion. It struggled violently and bit and clawed at him, but thankfully, Optimus's armor seemed to protect him enough as he flew back to the Ark. He found the rest of the Maximals, minus Dinobot, and Blackarachnia waiting for him.

"What is that?" Rattrap demanded, pointing at the creature in Optimus's hand.

"I don't know," Optimus answered, "It's obviously the metal creature that the sensors picked up, but it can't be Cheetor or Dinobot."

"Another clone?" Silverbolt asked.

"I don't know," Optimus repeated, "If it is, it isn't behaving like a clone should. It had killed an antelope when I found it. Not exactly something Megatron would order it to do."

"It seems to be giving you a good chewing out though," Blackarachnia pointed to Optimus's hand.

Optimus ignored the spider's comment and turned to Rhinox who stood watching the creature with a great deal of curiosity.

"I'm going to take him to a containment cell," Optimus said slowly, "Rhinox, I expect you to get some scanning equipment ready to explain what this is."

"Right," Rhinox nodded and moved out towards many of the scientific labs that they had found inside the Ark.

"What about Dinobot?" Rapther asked.

"I don't know," Optimus sighed, "This guy obviously wasn't him. And don't worry; I'm sure he's fine."

**Predicon Base**

Dinobot was silent as he heard footsteps approaching.

"What do you want?" Dinobot snarled.

"It's amazing how demanding a prisoner can be," Megatron laughed as he continued to step forward, "You really ought to grovel."

"I'm not afraid of you," Dinobot growled back, "What do you want?"

"Nothing much," Megatron shrugged, "Just your commander routes and timetables for his patrols."

"You already know I won't tell you," Dinobot answered.

"That's too bad," Megatron sighed, "I have a big surprise for your comrades, and I would much rather give it to them outside the Ark then in it."

"Afraid you'll destroy the original Megatron?" Dinobot taunted.

Megatron slammed his fist as hard as he could into Dinobot's stomach.

"You will give me the times and routes that Optimus uses on his patrols," Megatron commanded, "You're already going to die, so why not make it easy on yourself?"

"A true warrior does what is honorable," Dinobot answered, "He endures any hardship so long as his honor is preserved. Something you can not understand."

Megatron blasted Dinobot with fire from his dragon's head hand and watched as the raptor flinched under the pain.

"You will give me the information I want," Megatron smiled, "Believe me."

**The Ark**

"No way," Rhinox gasped as he looked at the readout equipment that he had set up outside the containment cell that was holding the creature that Optimus had captured.

"What is it?" Optimus asked as he looked on.

"According to all of the readouts, this creature has a spark chamber," Rhinox answered slowly, "And it's active. Whatever that is, it has a spark."

"It's a transformer?" Optimus asked, "Living on prehistoric Earth?"

"It's a possible theory," Rhinox sighed, "The real question should be how did it end up a transmetal two? Megatron is the only one who has the ability to advance a transformer like that."

"And until you can get that thing to actually talk instead of growl and snarl at us, you're not going to know who's side he's on or his story," Depthcharge added from the doorway.

"It's like when the Predicons stole the rectifier coil from the Axalon," Optimus commented, "His beast mode's instincts seem to be dominating him."

Rhinox nodded, "Yes. Scans show that his brain function should be normal, but it seems to be dormant. The problem will be in reaching it and getting him to regain enough control to delete the programming block."

Rhinox then looked back at the scanning equipment and pressed a few more buttons. The older transformer sighed.

"If he even has the programming block," Rhinox then commented.

"What?" Optimus asked sounding confused.

"Brain scans indicate that the programming block isn't there," Rhinox commented.

"And things just get more interesting," Optimus sighed, "I'd best try to find some way of contacting the transformer inside that thing. We gotta find out his story."

"How do you intend to do that?" Depthcharge grumbled.

"Ask him," Optimus sighed and then turned to the containment cell.

The creature meanwhile paced inside its cell and kept its optics pinned on the massive transformer that stood just outside the energized wall.

"I know you can hear me in there," the massive transformer spoke clearly, "My name is Optimus Primal, I'm a Maximal. So are you. We are transformers. We come from Cybertron."

The creature paused its pacing and stared directly at Optimus with a slightly confused look on its face.

"Great job," another voice laughed.

"Quiet, Depthcharge," Optimus answered.

The creature recognized both Optimus and the one he addressed as 'Depthcharge' somehow. Almost as if the creature knew them, but it couldn't comprehend why.

"Your beast mode is dominating you," Optimus spoke again, "You have to fight it! Transform."

The creature continued to stare Optimus, not quite understanding.

"Fight it," Optimus repeated, "Take control!"

Vague memories and pieces of information flashed through the creature's mind as something began to awaken inside its mind.

"You can do it," Optimus encouraged, "Fight the animal!"

Optimus took a step as brief red light engulfed the creature transformed to its robot mode. It stood up onto its hind legs as his legs rearranged themselves to allow the creature to stand erect. Its beast mode head was pulled back into a compartment inside the transformer as a head that suited its robot mode came up vertically. Its robot head had even some feline-like qualities.

Optimus looked on as the transformer looked himself over. When the transformer began speaking, however, Optimus was completely shocked.

"Hey, big bot, how did I get here, and what am I doing in a containment cell?" the transformer said with Cheetor's voice.

"Cheetor?" Optimus gasped.

"Yeah," Cheetor answered.

"Open the cell," Optimus commanded to Rhinox.

Rhinox quickly obliged and Cheetor slowly stepped out of the cell he had been placed in.

"How did I get in the containment cell?" Cheetor asked.

"You don't remember?" Optimus asked.

"I remember Dinobot and I finding this huge mountain with a cave entrance appearing above a ledge," Cheetor answered, "I couldn't carry Dinobot, so he ran up the back slope of the mountain and I tried to fly up under the ledge and got caught in some sorta strange energy beam. Then I woke up here. How did I get in a containment cell?"

"I found you wandering around the area just east of the base," Optimus answered, "We thought you were some new clone the Predicons cooked up."

"You said you got caught in some sort of energy beam?" Depthcharge asked from the doorway as he began to approach the other three Maximals.

"Yeah," Cheetor nodded, "It didn't even feel like regular power. It was powerful, but not like the power that say runs through the main circuit boards."

"What are you getting at Depthcharge?" Rhinox asked.

"Remember what I said about Megatron having Rampage and me search the ocean for some alien device he called a 'transmetal driver'?" Depthcharge asked back, and waited for the others to nod, "I'd think that Cheetor got exposed to the transmetal driver's energy, that's why he's advanced to this level."

"One question answered then," Optimus mumbled, "Do you know what happened to Dinobot?"

Cheetor shook his head, "No, I don't. I got caught in that energy beam before he reached the ledge. He probably went in to try and shut it off."

"Prime," Optimus sighed heavily.

"What is it?" Cheetor asked, not knowing what was going on.

"Megatron activated two stasis pods in that cave, and if he had the 'transmetal driver' then those two new Predicons are Transmetal twos as well," Optimus answered, not hiding his frustration, "And if Dinobot went in, Megatron probably took him prisoner."

"We've got to get him out then," Cheetor insisted, "We can't let Megatron hold him prisoner."

"We can't," Optimus agreed, "But we've got to deal with these new Predicons first. We can't assault his base trying to find Dinobot blindly. We'd have no clue as to where the new Predicons are with Sentinel in his possession, Megatron would know we're coming before we get there."

"So what do we do?" Rhinox asked.

"Get everyone together," Optimus sighed, "We'll meet in the command room, recall Rapther, Silverbolt, and Rattrap from their searching. Now that we're certain that Dinobot's been captured we need do some very serious planning."

The four Maximals then slowly left the room and headed off toward the Ark's command center. Shortly after the last one, Rhinox, left, eight eyes flickered open from the ceiling of the room.

"So this transmetal driver made Cheetor more powerful," Blackarachnia commented quietly to herself while still in beast mode, "And he doesn't look too bad either."

Blackarachnia then turned and headed for the back exit and then commented to herself once more, "They want to save lizard boy, fine. I'll save him, and I'll get that driver too."

**To be Continued…**


	3. Chapter 3

Beast Wars and all characters and things related are copyright and trademark of Hasbro and Mainframe Entertainment. This work, however, is the original work of the author.

Note: This story takes place shortly after "Deep Trouble".

Transmetal Madness, Chapter 3

By TVfan

**The Ark**

Optimus sighed as he entered the main conference room onboard the Ark. Recent discoveries had proved that the Maximals on Earth were in for a hard fight up ahead. One Maximal was missing, and presumed captured, while the Predicons had activated two new members, both of whom were likely to be far more powerful then any other, save for Megatron himself. Optimus looked around the long rectangular table and observed the present Maximals. Rhinox, Cheetor, Rattrap, Silverbolt, Rapther, and Depthcharge sat around the table. Two transformers were missing from this meeting. One was Dinobot, who was believed to be the captured Maximal, and the other was Blackarachnia.

"Where's Blackarachnia?" Optimus asked, "I wanted everyone available here."

"I don't know," Silverbolt answered first, "After you brought Cheetor back to the base, she told me she was going to her quarters."

"Did you tell her about the meeting?" Optimus asked.

"I assumed she heard when you announced the meeting over the intercom," Silverbolt answered, "And her door was locked, so I couldn't tell her in person."

"Great!" Rattrap exclaimed with his usual sarcasm, "Now we get to look for TWO transformers instead of one."

"We don't know that she's missing," Silverbolt said defensively, "I'll go back to her quarters and demand she open the door."

"That spider is just as sneaky as any Predicon," Rattrap shot back, "The whole 'locked door' bit is a distraction."

"You don't know that," Silverbolt growled.

"Go back to her room and try then," Rattrap snorted, "I bet she ain't there."

"We don't have time for that," Optimus sighed, "We'll just have to do this without her help."

"What's on your mind, Optimus?" Rhinox asked.

"Given what Cheetor's revealed, we can only assume that Dinobot has been captured," Optimus stated, "Right now, all we need to do is plan a rescue operation. Our primary effort to achieve this should be to lure at least some of the Predicons out of their base."

"And how do you plan to do that?" Depthcharge demanded, "Or why might be a better choice of words. That Predicon has probably rejoined his true comrades."

"That's enough, Depthcharge," Optimus ordered, "Sentinel as we all know is beatable, probably even more so, since the Predicons have recovered it from Axalon's final resting place. But with Megatron and at least two other transformers being transmetal twos, we can't tire ourselves out fighting the shield program to allow the Predicons to beat us once we've defeated the shield. We need to lure some of them out where we will have the advantage."

"And how do we do that then?" Rattrap asked, "Megs ain't just gonna leave his base because we attack it."

Optimus turned his eye to Cheetor who was sitting nervously in his chair. The rest of the Maximals had responded with a fair amount of surprise at the fact that his level had advanced to that of a transmetal two. Optimus couldn't really blame either party.

"Sentinel," Optimus answered, "Rhinox, remember after the transwarp explosion and the appearance of transmetal technology?"

Rhinox nodded.

"Remember all the trouble we had trying to get Sentinel to recognize every bot that became a transmetal as the same bot it was before?" Optimus asked.

"That was a pain," Rhinox groaned, "Especially since there was nothing technically wrong with the computer."

"What is this?" Rapther asked curiously.

"Sentinel, despite being the most advanced piece of detection gear that Cybertron has ever produced, it still isn't perfect," Rhinox answered, "For awhile before you came online, the program only reported Optimus, Rattrap, and Cheetor as unknown Maximals. It didn't know that they were Maximals that had been there all along. Eventually we simply had to reprogram Optimus, Rattrap, and Cheetor's new statistical data into the computer to get Sentinel to recognize them."

"I doubt Megatron knows of this," Optimus continued, "And even if he does, he doesn't know that Cheetor has become a transmetal two."

"You want me to play decoy?" Cheetor asked.

"Just get within Sentinel's range and do something at that limit that would make Megatron curious," Optimus instructed, "He'll undoubtedly send out at least one of his new Predicons along with someone like Waspinator or Inferno. The rest of us can then take them out easily."

"Megs is sure to send out more when they radio back to say they're under attack," Rattrap pointed out.

"I'm counting on that," Optimus answered, "Whatever he's done to restrain Dinobot, I doubt it will work for long. If we provide enough of a distraction, Dinobot might be able to escape on his own. If he can't, we'll simply have to defeat Megatron outside his base then in it. And there we will have the advantage."

**Elsewhere**

The black widow femmebot, known as Blackarachnia slowly crept toward the Predicon base. She had seen Cheetor's transmetal two form, and she knew how he became a transmetal two. It had made him more powerful and she knew that Megatron possessed the only thing she could use to gain that power, the transmetal driver. She had to obtain it, and if that meant rescuing Dinobot as well, then that would be a plus for Optimus and his group.

As she approached the edge of Sentinel's range of detection, she transformed to her robot mode. Megatron had surely upgraded the program's defenses to keep her out, but she had her own ways of getting around that. She smiled as she pulled a small wristband-like device out of a hidden compartment.

"After studying all of Rhinox's blueprints on the Sentinel program, this had better work," Blackarachnia chuckled to herself and began to walk forward along a rocky cliff.

The first sign of any defenses she came across was one of the automated defense systems that were part of Megatron's original security system. The system scanned Blackarachnia, standing not more then three feet away with complete ease.

"Predicon heat signature, detected," the computerized voice announced, "Weapons platform, stand down."

Blackarachnia smiled and thought, "This will be all too easy."

**Predicon Base**

"And this is the best you can do?" Megatron asked Ravage as the black jaguar transformer finished his final examination of the transmetal driver.

"From the data we've been able to collect, yes," Ravage answered, "You should be glad that I can guarantee you that it won't kill anyone."

Megatron sighed, "At that is all?"

Ravage nodded, "Waspinator and Inferno should be the only ones that the transmetal driver should affect in such manner given the data we have. The fact that Quickstrike is made up of two beast forms, seems to prevent this, but again, I can't gather enough data on that right now."

"Quickstrike can wait until you can," Megatron said calmly, "Can you proceed with Inferno and Waspinator."

"Yes," Ravage answered, "By the time they're ready, the equipment will be ready."

"Very well," Megatron smiled, "Continue with your work."

The large dragon transformer then turned and walked out of the room.

Meanwhile, in a different sector of the Predicon base, Dinobot continued to hang against the wall. The heavy helmet over his head had not yet been removed and the male raptor had no certain idea as to where he was. Only the sound of moving gears let him know he was not alone.

"You still will not give up your leader's patrol time tables to the Royalty?" Inferno asked from his position on a gangplank nearby.

"No," Dinobot growled, knowing it was useless to try and argue with the insane ant.

Inferno had been trying the same tactics over and over and over again. Its repetitiveness annoyed Dinobot, but he was not about to give in to Inferno's lecture on the 'glorious Royalty'.

"Then you leave me no choice," Inferno said evilly.

Dinobot knew what the ant would do next. It was standard Predicon practice with prisoners. Inferno would torture him into giving up whatever information he wanted. It was, after all, standard Predicon procedure. Dinobot knew the Maximals opposed it, and to a certain degree he opposed it, believing the practice to be dishonorable. The male raptor had allowed it in his past, however, on a strong belief that the prisoner had completely dishonored himself by allowing his enemies to capture him. Now Dinobot himself was in that position.

"It will not work," Dinobot said back defiantly, "and it is nothing more then the act of a coward."

Inferno ignored him and blasted away at the raptor with his flame thrower. The male raptor stifled the urge roar with pain and let Inferno fire on him. The ant laughed away as he fired. After a minute or so a new voice cut off the ant's laughter.

"That will be enough, Inferno, yes," Megatron's voice echoed through the corridor with noticeable confidence.

"He has not yet revealed the information you want, Royalty," Inferno protested.

"Don't worry," Megatron laughed, "I'm sure that eventually Dinobot will break and give in. Remember, he's chained to the wall and will not be given access to our CR tanks. Every bit of damage he sustains will go unrepaired. Sooner or later, he will break."

"Yes, Royalty," Inferno saluted the Predicon tyrant.

Megatron nodded, "Now go up to Ravage's lab. I have given him explicit instructions involving you and Waspinator receiving upgrades."

Inferno bowed, "At once, my Queen."

Dinobot inwardly snickered as he heard Megatron groan.

Outside the base, Blackarachnia crouched down behind a large rock formation. None of Megatron's automated defense guns had fired on her. Although she was sure that they weren't because she had kept her own Predicon codes instead of switching to Maximal ones. The defense lasers therefore wouldn't fire on her.

The real question had been the Sentinel program. Megatron surely tied the Sentinel program into the automated defense grid, and she was certain that Sentinel would know that she was no longer a Predicon loyal to the commander. Blackarachnia smiled as she looked down at the device she had placed on her wrist earlier. So far it was apparently blocking any attempt by Sentinel to detect her, since she hadn't met half of the other Predicons so far.

What troubled her know was trying to find out who was in the base and who was not. She looked around the ground, hoping one of Tarantulus's drones was nearby that she could hotwire and send in, but no luck.

"Oh well," Blackarachnia sighed to herself, "There's more then one way to skin a cat."

**Elsewhere**

"So what should I do to attract their attention?" Cheetor asked as he and the other Maximals sat just outside Sentinel's range, "I can't just wander around like I'm lost. Especially if I'm to stay close to you guys."

Rattrap moved a few large leaves aside to look out into a small clearing where Sentinel's detection gear could reach.

"Ya know, it is a fairly dark night here," Rattrap commented, "Do something spooky. Like roar or something."

"Like that's going to attract Megatron," Cheetor snorted back.

"It might," Silverbolt thought, "Cheetor could go into the area, wander around near our location for a few moments and then wait for the Predicons to come. You could even pretend to hunt something. Then as the Predicons begin to arrive, roar so that it might spook them into asking for reinforcements."

"We don't want to draw out all the Predicons at once," Depthcharge argued, "Just one or two, and hopefully they would be those new transmetals that Megatron got."

"No, I like the idea," Optimus commented, "We'd get all of them out in the open, we could win."

Cheetor nodded and converted to his beast mode and began to slowly stalk towards the clearing. The rest of the Maximals hunkered down in the bushes, waiting to any sign of approaching Predicons.

**Predicon Base**

"Attention, unknown Maximal in grid Sargon," the Sentinel computer announced throughout the Predicon base.

"Is it alone?" Megatron asked as he pivoted his command chair toward one of the base's main computer terminals.

"Yes, it is a single unkown Maximal in grid Sargon," Sentinel answered.

"What is it doing?" Megatron questioned.

"Movement patterns indicate that it is lost," Sentinel answered.

"Interesting," Megatron commented, as he leaned back in his chair, "I sense the opportunity for a little trickery, yes."

Megatron the turned and pressed a small button on his command chair. A view screen came down from the roof above him and presented him with Ravage.

"Yes, sir?" Ravage answered seeing that Megatron was trying to contact him.

"What is the status of Waspinator and Inferno?" Megatron asked.

"As I predicted they are currently offline," Ravage sighed, "But the transmetal driver worked. I'm just getting them to the CR tanks now."

"Very well," Megatron nodded, "You are to guard the base. I will be leading the others on a little torment mission."

"Of course, Megatron," Ravage acknowledged.

Megatron shut off his communications device with Ravage and turned to inspect the rest of the Predicons. Tarantulus was grumbling about something from his own monitoring station, while Quickstrike labored at his own. Rampage was leaning against a bulkhead while the new transmetal twos, Terrorsaur and Scorpinok, stood at attention.

"Attention all of you," Megatron growled, gathering their undivided attention, "As you no doubt heard there is an unknown Maximal in grid Sargon."

"Yeah, what do you intend to do about it?" Rampage asked, sounding furious that he hadn't been allowed to kill something.

"Oh, we will pay this Maximal a little visit, yes," Megatron smiled, "Everyone is to go, and our objective is to capture him. I'd like to know about this 'unknown' Maximal."

"At least I'll get to shoot something," Rampage growled.

"We all get a shot?" Quickstrike asked sounding excited to be getting out of monitor duty.

Tarantulus said nothing and followed the other Predicons out.

Outside, Blackarachnia continued to sneak closer toward the opening to the Predicon base. She had just reached the final portion of the field in which she would have cover, and would soon have to make a one hundred yard sprint to get into the base. She was about to leave her cover when she saw Megatron come flying out of the base in his beast mode. Tarantulus and Rampage were close behind. After them ran Quickstrike, and behind him came two transformers that Blackarachnia was shocked to see. One was a scorpion-like transformer that had an armor scheme similar to Megatron's. The other was a pterodactyl-like transformer, whose armor was also configured like Megatron's.

"Shesh," Blackarachnia groaned, "Everyone including the newbies are getting to be transmetals now. That device better be in there, and it better work."

Once Megatron and his compatriots were out of sight, Blackarachnia left her cover and calmly walked into the Predicon base.

Inside the base, Ravage carefully loaded the offline bodies of Inferno and Waspinator into their respective CR tanks. He had more research to do on the transmetal driver, but that could wait for now. He had to make sure that the other two Predicons that remained at the base were able to quickly recover. He activated the tanks just as the platforms that the two Predicons were laying on reached the bottom.

"It's still a nice set-up, here, isn't it?" came a voice from behind him.

Ravage jumped and turned around to see Blackarachnia standing behind him. The femmebot had her gun aimed at him.

"How did you get in here?" Ravage demanded, "Megatron's programmed Sentinel to fire on you."

Blackarachnia motioned to the armband she had on with her free hand.

"You forget who I'm palling around with," Blackarachnia laughed and fired her weapon.

Ravage found out very quickly that it wasn't an energy weapon of any kind. The weapon was powerful, as it threw the transmetal Predicon across the room and against one of the walls opposite the CR tanks. Upon hitting the wall, the projectile opened and revealed a cyber-web that held him firmly in place.

"What do you want, traitor?" Ravage growled as Blackarachnia switched to her beast mode.

"Nothing much," Blackarachnia laughed back, "Just the transmetal driver and all your notes on it. I'd presume Tarantulus has notes too, but then Megatron wouldn't trust them."

"Forget it," Ravage growled.

"I'm afraid I can't," Blackarachnia answered as she used her beast mode's ability to walk up walls and on ceilings to walk up to Ravage's position on the wall, "You see, the transmetal technology represents great power."

"You gave up the right to have it when you joined the Maximals," Ravage growled.

"I didn't join the Maximals," Blackarachnia insisted, "But the way Megatron intends to win the Beast Wars, by destroying ultimately Optimus Prime means my death as well. Remember that I was brought online as a Predicon from a Maximal stasis pod. Killing their ancestors kills me."

"Not my problem," Ravage answered.

"Maybe not," Blackarachnia smiled, "But you can't do much right now. I suggest that if you want to live to see tomorrow, you'll give me the information that I want."

"You can't kill me," Ravage said bravely.

"I can and I will," Blackarachnia warned, "You're the only online Predicon here, and you're powerless to do anything."

Ravage inwardly sighed. The female spider was obviously right. He didn't have the ability to break her cyber-webs, and while Megatron and other Predicons were gone, she did have the advantage in terms of disposing of him. He couldn't continue to portray this bravado and win.

"It's in the old Scorpinok's lab," Ravage answered weakly, "It should be easy to find, Megatron's had me researching it almost constantly as of late."

Blackarachnia nodded and prepared to turn around, but stopped before she did so.

"Say, you wouldn't happen to know where Dinobot is, do you?" Blackarachnia asked.

**Elsewhere**

Cheetor crouched low as he the first sign of approaching Predicons. He could see the familiar form of Megatron flying through the air. He also saw a very familiar form that he thought was long dead. It looked much like Terrorsaur, but it looked like his armor had been greatly updated. He could also hear Rampage making his way in his tank mode along with Quickstrike and Tarantulus, and at least one more Predicon, but he couldn't see them yet.

The transmetal two Cheetah slowly moved among a series of thick bushes that lead back toward where the other Maximals were waiting. He carefully whispered into his radio.

"There are at least six of them coming," Cheetor whispered, "One of them is Megatron, and he has at least one of his transmetal twos with him."

"Prime," Optimus answered over the radio, "Just remember the plan."

"Right, Optimus," Cheetor answered.

Cheetor then crept forward to a spot where he was sure that at least Megatron would see him, and unleashed a roar that even frightened himself.

Approaching the location, Megatron was somewhat surprised by the sudden roar that echoed through the air. He turned his head and looked down to see a mostly tan cheetah-like creature stalking among the jungle undergrowth. He saw its red optics for a moment and then saw it retreat into denser foliage.

"What is that?" Terrorsaur demanded from behind and above him.

"I'm not sure," Megatron answered, "Megatron to Tarantulus, Tarantulus, come in."

"Yes, Megatron?" Tarantulus answered over the radio.

"The 'unknown Maximal' that we are approaching appears to look like the cheetah clone," Megatron said in a threatening tone, "Your battle report indicated that all the clones were destroyed."

"I am positive of that, Megatron," Tarantulus answered, "Primal crushed the cheetah clone in his hands, and he then aided Silverbolt and Depthcharge in destroying the raptor clone."

"Interesting," Megatron mumbled to himself.

"What is it?" Terrorsaur asked.

"An interesting question, my faithful servant," Megatron simply answered, "an interesting question."

The Predicon tyrant then activated his radio again, this time to speak with all of the Predicons accompanying him.

"Attention, we are approaching the Maximal's position," Megatron announced, "We are to surround it and question it. If it fights, destroy it."

Megatron then dove and landed in front of the transformer, blocking it from going straight ahead. Terrorsaur landed next to him.

"Well, now, what do we have here?" Megatron asked as he returned to his robot mode and Terrorsaur did the same, "A lone Maximal alone in the jungle."

The transformer looked around to see Quickstrike, Rampage, Scorpinok, and Tarantulus arrive to finish encircling him.

"Now, you appear to be lost," Megatron continued, "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"How about dying, Mega-jerk!" Cheetor announced as he transformed, produced a blaster from behind and nailed Megatron directly in the chest.

**Predicon Base**

Dinobot had temporarily dozed off for a while when he was awakened by the sound of a platform pulling up next to him.

"I'm not giving you the patrol schedule, Megatron," Dinobot growled.

"I'm not Megatron," came Blackarachnia's voice in reply.

"You…?" was all Dinobot managed to answer.

"Yes, me," Blackarachnia answered, "Man everyone seems to be getting a new look these days. You're not hiding secrets from the rest of us, are you?"

"What?" Dinobot asked, "What are you talking about?"

"You haven't seen the upgrade you've received yet?" Blackarachnia asked, almost laughing, "I guess you will when I get this helmet off your head."

Dinobot blinked as Blackarachnia removed the helmet, allowing him to see his surroundings. He was chained to a wall above the molten lava pit that the Darkside had crashed into. He could see the causeway that the various Predicons that had come to guard him had walked on. He could see Blackarachnia standing on a platform in front of him, but what was the most shocking thing that he saw was himself.

Dinobot saw that his armor had apparently changed.

"What has happened to me?" Dinobot growled as Blackarachnia freed his arms and legs and pulled him onto the platform.

"You've become a transmetal two, like Megatron, Optimus, two other Predicons, and Cheetor," Blackarachnia answered.

Dinobot didn't answer as Blackarachnia began to pilot the platform away from the levels of the Predicon ship that were directly above the lava field. His body was mostly some shade of white, while there were areas that were brownish in color. His hands had changed. He now only had a single thumb, and his pointer finger wasn't much more then a large curved metal talon. The remaining two fingers on each hand were substantially smaller. His beast mode's tail was still connected to him while it wasn't part of his robot mode before. What had to be his beast mode's hips formed large shoulder guards that sat over his arms. From looking at his reflection Dinobot could also see that one of his optics was shaped like a monocle and had various wires connected to it.

"An interesting change, isn't it?" Blackarachnia smirked.

"Yes," Dinobot answered with a growling sigh, "and I will deal with it once we have returned to the Ark."

Blackarachnia nodded. Dinobot the remembered something that Blackarachnia had said earlier.

"You said Cheetor was a transmetal two now?" Dinobot asked.

"Yes," Blackarachnia answered, "You and he walked into quite a situation. Megatron was activating two stasis pods as Predicons with the transmetal driver. For some reason, Megatron had the device sending energy down from the bottom of his lab. Cheetor got caught in it and it changed him into a transmetal two. Megatron was able to activate both protoforms though, and both are transmetal twos. I saw both of them leave with Megatron when I got here. How you became a transmetal two is the real question."

"I was hit by an energy beam while trying to shut off the driver itself," Dinobot answered.

"Cut its power cables with your optics did you?" Blackarachnia teased.

Dinobot only growled in response.

"What are you doing here?" Dinobot asked finally.

"Rescuing you," Blackarachnia answered simply.

"Remember that my original affiliation is with the Predicons," Dinobot answered slowly, "No Predicon would make an effort to free captured Predicons, especially without a more important objective to obtain that just happened to be in the area. Optimus, Rapther, and the vermin might be willing to try something like this to rescue me for their own reasons, but to you, or to myself, **I** would be a secondary objective. What is your true purpose for being here?"

"I wished to recover my old stuff from the Predicon base," Blackarachnia answered, although sounding somewhat nervous, "I had some experiments of my own that I wished to recover."

"I see," Dinobot sighed slowly, and stepped off the platform onto the solid steal flooring of the 'ground' level of the Predicon base.

The two began to slowly walk through the base toward an exit, and they were nearing it when two figures stepped out to block them. One was fairly tall and mostly red in color with a set of drills for fingers on one hand while he had two flame throwers mounted on its other forearm. The other was shorter and a mix of yellow and black and had a pair of dart launchers on the underside of its wrists.

"Ah!" the red one announced, "The traitors work together to try and destroy the colony! They will burn!"

"Waspinator hate lizard bot and female spider bot!" the other added.

"Slag," Dinobot cursed.

**Elsewhere**

Cheetor leaped at the new Terrorsaur just after he fired his blaster at Megatron. While the Predicon tyrant was launched several feet backwards, Cheetor was successful in knocking the transmetal pterodactyl down and getting to cover before the other Predicons could realize what happened and fired back at him.

"What in tarnation?" Quickstrike gasped as he fired a few shots after Cheetor, "That sounded like the Maxi's kid."

"Not 'like'," Rampage replied and fired a barrage of missiles after the transmetal two cheetah, "IS. That is Cheetor."

"The real question should be how did he become a transmetal two?" Tarantulus added.

"It doesn't matter who he is," Scorpinok snarled, shoving Tarantulus aside, "He opposes Megatron and will be destroyed."

Megatron was beginning to pull himself up as he saw the rest of the Predicons he had brought with him begin to move on Cheetor's position, a few of them already firing their weapons.

"How dare that kid get a cheap shot at me?" Megatron snarled aloud.

Megatron's optics widened when he heard another voice behind him.

"Actually, I told him to take a cheap shot at you," came Optimus's voice, "No one dared him."

Megatron turned to see Optimus Primal and most of the other Maximals with him. Silverbolt was already in the air while Rattrap, Rapther, Depthcharge, and Rhinox stood around their commander.

"So, this is your pathetic attempt at a trap, Optimus?" Megatron growled, "I must say, I'm almost impressed. Terrorsaur, destroy their flyers!"

Terrorsaur immediately halted his attack on Cheetor and took off into the air, flying hard and fast at Silverbolt. The Maximal fuzor fired his wing missiles, but they did practically no damage to the transmetal two Predicon. Optimus watched as the new Predicon tackled Silverbolt, driving him out of his field of view.

"Depthcharge, help Silverbolt," Optimus ordered, "The rest of you, help Cheetor with the rest of the Predicons. I'll deal with Megatron."

Optimus then pivoted on one foot and punched Megatron, knocking the Predicon tyrant against another tree. Depthcharge watched as Optimus and Megatron engaged in battle, briefly, before taking off and flying after Silverbolt and the new Predicon. Meanwhile, Rhinox moved forward from his position toward the group of Predicons that couldn't fly.

"Come on, we got to deal with the others!" Rhinox said in an urgent voice.

Both Rattrap and Rapther nodded. Rapther angled directly toward Cheetor's position where the Maximal feline was pinned down by both Rampage and the second new Predicon. As she got closer, she leaped into the air and landed on Rampages shoulders, knocking the large Predicon down.

"Come to play have you?" Rampage questioned, "And how would you like to be destroyed?"

Rapther only answered by blasting him at close range with her rockets. Cheetor, meanwhile, continued moving as quickly as he could, dodging and firing when able. The other new Predicon fired missiles from both inside its pincers and from its tail. All of them were guided, and Cheetor had a hard time dodging all of them, and he taken a few shots already. He blasted back at the new Predicon with his blaster, but it ducked behind a tree and Cheetor missed.

Tarantulus moved forward, in the hopes of engaging Rhinox. The rhinoceros transformer was the oldest and weakest among the Maximal forces, and Tarantulus, already frustrated by being chased out of the valley wanted to inflict some torture. But before he could even get close, he was pelted by a series of energy blasts. He turned to see Rattrap standing on top of a fallen log.

"Goin' somewhere, eight-legs?" Rattrap asked.

"Stupid rat," Tarantulus growled as he drew his gun and fired on Rattrap.

"Aw," Quickstrike groaned as he fired a cyber-venom blast at Rhinox, "I get stuck with you."

Rhinox dodged one blast before another took him down to one knee.

"I wanted to take on some one tougher," Quickstrike continued.

Rhinox simply lifted up one of his chain-gatling guns and fired on Quickstrike as the Predicon fuzor got close to him. Quickstrike was forced to take several steps back, and had suffered some damage from the fire.

"You're not as tough as you think," Rhinox commented.

Megatron quickly recovered from Optimus's initial attack and threw a stream of fire from his dragon's head hand at the Maximal commander. Optimus blocked the attack with the extra armor he had on his forearms, but that gave Megatron time to get up and grip the same arm in his dragon's head hand.

"You can not win," Megatron said firmly, "Your cat is the only other transmetal two with you. I have two, not including myself."

Megatron then punched Optimus in the gut, knocking the wind out of him. Optimus only activated the laser cannons that were stored in his chest and fired at Megatron. The blast knocked Megatron off of him.

"Just worry about your current situation," Optimus said back, hoping that his allies would win.

"You will pay for challenging Megatron," the new Terrrorsaur snarled at Silverbolt as he drove the Maximal fuzor into the upper branches of a nearby tree.

"Unhand me!" Silverbolt shouted as he pushed the new transmetal two off of him.

Terrorsaur then dodged two feather missiles that Silverbolt launched at him.

"That'll make it easier for me to destroy you!" Terrorsaur laughed.

The Predicon flyer then activated his own optics lasers and fired them at the treed Silverbolt. Silverbolt barely managed to dodge and get airborne before the tree practically exploded. Terrorsaur had no time to gloat in the fact that he was winning when he was hit by a powerful energy blast in the back. It didn't do much in the way of damage, but it did take his attention away from the Maximal fuzor. He turned to see Depthcharge coming toward him with his shark blaster drawn.

"Ah, the other flyer!" Terrorsaur smirked.

**Predicon Base**

"Traitors to the Colony!" the now transmetal two Inferno screamed as he fired two massive fire balls at Dinobot and Blackarachnia.

Blackarachnia leapt into the air to avoid the fire blasts, bounced off one wall and delivered a strong kick to Inferno's neck. The blow knocked the ant to the ground. Inferno, however, was not the only Predicon there. Waspinator reacted quickly and shot Blackarachnia at close range with his own darts. The darts exploded upon contact and threw the female spider back and sent her almost immediately into stasis lock.

"Now Waspinator will destroy Lizard-bot!" Waspinator announced aloud.

"Think again," Dinobot growled after he recovered from Inferno's attack.

Before Inferno could help his comrade, Dinobot charged forward and in one single swipe, used one of his talons to slice open Waspinator's armor. Waspinator screamed with pain as sparks flew everywhere. He staggered back briefly and looked down to see a single claw mark cut through his armor. The cut wasn't super deep, did do damage. Dinobot then attacked again with the other talon and literally finished carving an 'X' into Waspinator's chest. The Predicon wasp then fell into stasis lock.

"Was does this always happen to Waspinator…" Waspinator buzzed as his optics dimmed for the time being.

By the time Waspinator had fallen into stasis lock, Inferno had recovered and extended the drills that made his other hand and drove Dinobot face first into the side of a nearby support beam.

"You will die now, traitor!" Inferno screamed, "For the glory of the Royalty!"

Dinobot slumped to the ground and quickly rolled away as Inferno attempted to drive his drills into the Maximal again.

"I think not," Dinobot growled slowly and fired a laser blast from his monocle optic.

The blast threw Inferno against a far wall. Still not fully recovered from his upgrade to being a transmetal two, the ant soon fell into stasis lock as well. Dinobot got up slowly, wincing as he knew that the ant had done some damage to his back. Kicking Inferno's body, Dinobot then walked over to the temporarily offline Blackarachnia. He couldn't leave her here. Mostly because he knew Megatron would likely terminate her, but also as a sign of respect that she had freed him from his own imprisonment.

Carrying the female spider was relatively easy for Dinobot. She was by far smaller, and despite the damage had sustained while captured by Megatron, Dinobot's strength hadn't left him. The route out lead through the Predicon command center. As he walked, Dinobot noticed the computer was monitoring a battle going on to the south of the base.

"Blackarachnia was part of a rescue effort," Dinobot thought, "Or Optimus has his own plans that the spider does not know of."

Dinobot processed the information he had seen on the screen and calmly left the Predicon base.

**Elsewhere**

Quickstrike fell over backwards as Rhinox hit him again, this time with both of his gatling-chain guns. He had tried to maneuver quickly and get a chance to fire a venom blast at Rhinox, but the large Maximal continued to use trees for cover and never gave Quickstrike a clear shot. As a result of his almost endless attempts to charge the Maximal, he had received fairly serious damage from the bullets that Rhinox fired at him. Quickstrike tried to dodge and get away, but he tripped over a rock and soon fell into stasis lock, unable to withstand the damage he had sustained.

Rhinox watched the Predicon fuzor fall offline and then turned to see the other battles going on near him. Rattrap and Tarantulus were essentially at a draw, as neither could get decent shots at one another, and Rattrap moved around enough that Tarantulus couldn't use his shoulder mounted machine guns on him.

Rattrap fired a short series of pulses at Tarantulus, forcing the transmetal tarantula to step back a few steps. The blasts didn't do much in terms of damaging his opponent, but it allowed the transmetal rat to get behind a large tree. Rattrap heard Tarantulus fire on the tree he was hiding behind with his blaster, and knew he would have to move soon before the tree was knocked down and it crushed him.

The sound of machine gun bullets pelting transmetal armor interrupted his thoughts. He peered around to see that Rhinox had taken a flanking position on the Predicon and was now firing down on Tarantulus. The Predicon spider then turned to fire on the older transformer, knowing that his transmetal armor could easily withstand the Maximal's fire.

"You're a fool!" Tarantulus snorted, "If you think you can beat me."

"Don't count him out yet, eight legs," Rattrap warned as he appeared from behind the tree and fired on Tarantulus.

Rattrap's attack on him knocked Tarantulus to the ground, and still left the Predicon spider under Rhinox's fire. Tarantulus tried to turn and fire back at Rattrap, but several of Rhinox's shots hit his blaster, causing the weapon to explode. The explosion threw Tarantulus into the air and against a nearby tree. The transmetal spider then fell into stasis lock.

"Thanks," Rattrap commented as Rhinox came closer to him.

"This isn't over yet," Rhinox commented, breathing deeply, "There are others."

"Only three more, counting Megatron," came Rapther's voice as the female raptor approached them.

Rattrap turned his head to see that she was carrying Rampage's missile launcher.

"Found yourself a toy, did ya?" Rattrap teased.

"Rampage won't be needing it for awhile," Rapther answered seriously, "Come on, that scorpion transformer has driven Cheetor further east."

Rattrap and Rhinox nodded and soon followed Rapther as fast as they could to try and get behind the other transmetal two that Megatron had commanded. They found that the scorpion transformer had driven Cheetor up a ridge and the Maximal cheetah was taking cover among a group of rocks and bushes. The Predicon did not notice the three Maximals coming from behind him, though.

"Now to see who well this thing works," Rapther commented as she raised Rampage's missile launcher.

Rapther fired off several missile shots before Rattrap and Rhinox opened fire. The missile barrage knocked the transmetal two Predicon to the ground, and Rattrap and Rhinox's fire only added to it. The new Scorpinok tried to fire a missile from one of his pincers at his new attackers when a powerful series of energy blasts hit him in his back.

"About time you guys showed up," Cheetor commented as he fired on Scorpinok with his blaster.

"We were busy!" Rattrap shot back.

Scorpinok struggled to his feet and began retreating immediately. While he outmatched the transmetal two cheetah, he doubted he would be successful against both it and two transmetals and one original. He quickly raised a pincer to his face and opened a communication's link with Megatron.

"I would advise a retreat, Megatron," Scorpinok warned, "Other then Terrorsaur and myself, you are the only one who is still online."

"What?" Megatron screamed over the radio.

Scorpinok also heard the sounds of his commander's battle with Optimus Primal.

"Three additional Maximals have attacked me while I was about to finish of the cat," Scorpinok answered, "Obviously the other members of your faction were defeated."

He only heard Megatron growl into his radio.

"Blast it all!" Megatron roared and then switched his radio to wide range broadcast to contact any conscious Predicon in the area, "This is Megatron to all available Predicons, retreat! Retreat!"

Megatron then switched to his beast mode and flew off in the direction of the Predicon base. He glanced to see Terrorsaur soon appear in the sky behind him.

The Maximals quickly regrouped around Cheetor's position. Both the transmetal two cheetah and Depthcharge, and Silverbolt looked like they had taken more then their fare share of damage.

"Let's not do that again," Cheetor commented.

"We'll probably have to," Optimus sighed, "We still need to rescue Dinobot, and Megatron looks like he was fleeing back to his base."

"And he still has more Preds with him there," Rattrap commented, "Inferno, Ravage, and Waspinator weren't with this group."

"Prime," Optimus answered.

**West of the Predicon Base**

Dinobot set Blackarachnia down behind a barrier of rocks to protect her from any possible attack. Getting through Megatron's automated defenses had been tough. Despite his birth as a Predicon, Dinobot was a Maximal now, and the auto-guns did register him as such. Because of this, the male raptor was forced to stop several times and deal with each gun with his optic laser. Now that he was beyond the range of both Sentinel and the Predicon base's programmed auto-guns, Dinobot moved to activate his radio to try and contact the other Maximals.

"This is Dinobot to any Maximal out there," Dinobot said into his radio, "Come in?"

There was a brief pause for a few moments before a weak answer came in reply.

"This is Optimus," came the Maximal commander's voice over the radio, "We're on our way to the Predicon base now to get you out."

"You needn't come," Dinobot said slowly, "I have already escaped."

"You escaped?" Optimus asked over the radio.

"Yes," Dinobot answered, and then added, sounding embarrassed, "Blackarachnia infiltrated the Predicon base and freed me."

"So that's where she went," Optimus muttered quietly, not knowing that his radio connection was still functional.

Dinobot ignored Optimus's comment.

"Okay, return to the Ark, Dinobot," Optimus ordered, "We'll meet you there."

"Affirmative," Dinobot answered.

**Predicon Base**

Megatron was furious at what he found when he returned to the base. Inferno and Waspinator lay offline not far from the command room of the base. Ravage was webbed to the wall in his lab, and had obviously been given a rather large dose of cyber-venom. Dinobot was not in the place where Megatron had left him, chained to a wall on one of the base's lower floors. Three of his followers had been knocked out in the battle to the south of the base, but these were the things that truly infuriated the Predicon tyrant. What made Megatron so angry was the fact that the transmetal driver was missing.

"Security cameras indicate that Blackarachnia freed Dinobot and took the device," Scorpinok reported.

Megatron slammed his fist down on the side of his throne and gave out a frustrated roar.

"What are your orders, Megatron?" Scorpinok asked as he and Terrorsaur approached Megatron's position.

"Terrorsaur, I want you to return to the battle site and recover the three that were knocked out," Megatron ordered, "Scorpinok, you are to get Inferno, Waspinator, and Ravage into a CR tank. I want all of our damaged transformers repaired as soon as possible. We are going to get the transmetal driver back."

**The Ark, Later**

"This device is truly amazing," Rhinox commented as he looked over the slightly damaged Dinobot, "Do you know where the device is now?"

"No," Dinobot answered simply.

"And it did all this to you after you hit its power cable?" Rapther asked.

"Yes," Dinobot nodded.

"And Megatron upgraded Inferno and Waspinator in the same way?" Optimus asked.

"I can only assume that, yes," Dinobot answered, "They were both transmetal twos when we began our attempt to escape."

"Prime," Optimus sighed, "This whole thing is getting more and more complicated."

"Don't worry, Boss Monkey," Rattrap commented, "Inferno's always been nuts and Waspinator still couldn't beat up wet paper. We'll do well in the end."

"I can only hope so," Optimus sighed, "I can only hope so."

"Meanwhile, after you and Cheetor take some time in the CR chamber, I'd like to examine you both," Rhinox commented, "We need to fully understand what has all happened in regards to this technology."

"Hopefully Megatron gives you the time to perform that analysis," Depthcharge commented.

"I hope so too," Rhinox answered.

**To be continued…**


	4. Chapter 4

Beast Wars and all characters and things related are copyright and trademark of Hasbro and Mainframe Entertainment. This work, however, is the original work of the author.

Note: This story takes place shortly after "Deep Trouble".

Transmetal Madness, Chapter 4

By TVfan

**The Ark**

"Interesting," Rhinox commented as finished another scan on both Dinobot and Cheetor.

"What is?" Cheetor asked.

"Well," Rhinox sighed, preparing to explain, "It's obvious that both of you are transmetal twos now. That isn't in question. What is interesting though is the manner in which your armor is configured."

"It still works, doesn't it?" Cheetor asked while Dinobot approached in silence.

Rhinox nodded, "It does work, and in fact it is stronger then a standard transmetal, like Rattrap or Depthcharge, and definitely more powerful then the 'original' armor that I still use."

Rhinox then pressed a few buttons on the control console to display his findings.

"It's a shame you and Blackarachnia didn't take the transmetal driver while you were still in the Predicon base," Rhinox went on, "Then I could study the device itself. It might help shed some light on the results it has produced."

"What are you talking about?" Dinobot demanded, not wanting to be involved in a scientific lecture.

"While the metals in your armor are clearly the among the strongest that Cybertron has known, it is their bonds that is the most interesting," Rhinox explained, "Many of the atoms in your armor are arranged in the same patterns that Carbon atoms go through. They're non-metallic bonds. Yet in these sections, your armor is actually stronger then it is elsewhere."

This activated Cheetor's sense of curiosity.

"But, Carbon is a key feature of organic life," Cheetor pointed out, "Cybertronians aren't organic. How can metals be arranged in organic patterns?"

"I don't know," Rhinox answered, "That's why I wish we had the transmetal driver. You two were advanced by alien technology. Technology we know little about. With out it, I can only explain what has happened, but not the 'why' this happened."

"Then maybe we should go get it," Cheetor suggested, "We go in, get the device and get out."

"Can't do that," Rhinox sighed, "At least not now. We still need to recover from the last battle and Megatron is likely to keep all his forces near his base for the time being."

"Will he be able to advance any other Predicons to a transmetal two level?" Cheetor asked.

"I don't know," Rhinox sighed.

Elsewhere inside the Ark, Blackarachnia was involved in a very different discussion. One that she did not like being in.

"You should have at least told us what you were doing," Optimus scolded, "You could have been put offline."

"Would you have allowed me to go in alone?" Blackarachnia asked back, somewhat frustrated that the first thing she had to do after leaving the CR chamber was get chewed out by the Maximal commander.

Optimus sighed, "No."

"And that's why I went without saying anything," Blackarachnia answered, "Even if your little rescue attempt succeeded in defeating Megatron outside his base, Sentinel would have chewed you up once you got to the base, and that isn't taking Megatron's original base defenses into account. I'm the only one that could have gone in there."

"So you went in to rescue Dinobot, all on your own initiative?" Optimus asked.

"Well, you all wanted him back so badly," Blackarachnia answered, "I just couldn't stand by… so I did something idiotically heroic. Isn't that what the Maximals stand for?"

"We don't do stupid things to try and be 'heroic'," Optimus answered, "We try to stand for what is right. And we stand together."

Blackarachnia nodded, "Is that all?"

"Not quite," Optimus replied, "I still have to thank you for freeing Dinobot. Just talk to the rest of us first before you decide to go off and rescue someone."

"Right," Blackarachnia answered and slowly left the area that the Maximal commander was in.

Blackarachnia sighed, and headed directly for her quarters after she left Optimus's office. She still had the transmetal driver hidden away in a secret compartment, but she knew that was only storage. Having it on her wouldn't help; she would need to harness its energies somehow. Megatron had already done that, and the accidental exposure to its energies had upgraded Cheetor and Dinobot.

It was one of the few things that the female Predicon truly wanted. She wanted to be transmetal, it represented power and the female spider had felt cheated at the fact that she didn't become a transmetal during the quantum surge. Now that she had the transmetal driver, Blackarachnia felt that she now had her opportunity to even that score, but she knew that Optimus and the Maximals would never allow that. Rhinox would surely want to study the device. That meant that she couldn't use the Ark as she originally intended, since the Maximals had set up camp there. She needed a secret lab.

**Predicon Base**

Megatron sat angrily in his command chair, as if trying to stare through the steal walls of the Darkside's bridge.

"Has everyone recovered from the most recent fiasco?" Megatron demanded.

"Only Waspinator, Inferno, and Ravage," Quickstrike answered nervously from one of the computer panels, "but they should be healed soon."

"We're going straight into battle after being beaten so easily earlier?" Rampage asked from the opposite end of the room, "Are you trying to get yourself killed?"

Megatron turned to face him, scowling as he did so.

"Blackarachnia took the transmetal driver," Megatron growled, "An alien device that I need to win the war against the Maximals. With it in their hands, the Maximals could find a way to defeat us."

"Like the transmetal twos it has created have really helped," Rampage snorted.

Megatron glanced at the new Terrorsaur, who stood at attention, watching the entire argument. The clone transformer nodded and opened a small circular portion of its chest, revealing its spark. The clone the squeezed its spark as hard as it could. Rampage then dropped to the ground in obvious agony.

"I don't need the energon cage anymore," Megatron smiled, "That is one of the functions of Terrorsaur and the new Scorpinok. They will keep you and Tarantulus in line, and they will not fail."

Rampage only groaned in response.

"We are going to get the transmetal driver back," Megatron announced, "And we are going to get it back as soon as possible."

**Maximal Base, Next Day**

"You're willing to take a patrol sector?" Optimus asked in an almost confused voice, "Megatron holds you prisoner and we barely get you back for a day, and you want to go out on a patrol?"

"Wars are not won by slackers, Optimus Primal," Dinobot answered, "Besides, I am fine, and Megatron will assuredly try to do something. I will be returning to my patrols."

"I thought you'd want some time to rest and recuperate," Optimus commented.

"I did plenty of that yesterday," Dinobot answered.

Optimus nodded and let Dinobot go to his patrols.

Blackarachnia meanwhile made her way through the Ark's engineering bays, smiling inwardly to herself. Optimus had her establishing a listening post in the area south east of the base. That area was full of hidden caves and so forth. She could easily establish a secret lab there.

**Predicon Base**

Megatron frowned heavily. He was already behind schedule in his attempt to attack the Maximal base and recover the transmetal driver. On top of this, when Ravage came back online, he insisted on talking the Predicon tyrant out of his decision.

"It's not that I want the Maximals to keep the transmetal driver," Ravage argued, "But the fact is that the MAXIMALS don't have it. Blackarachnia has it."

"And she is with the Maximals," Megatron pointed out, "We assault the Ark, destroy the Maximals inside, and recover the device. Why are you defying me?"

"I'm not defying you," Ravage answered glancing at Scorpinok and Terrorsaur, "But it is unlikely that we could beat through the Ark's defenses and then through the Maximals, just as they could not beat their way through the Darkside's defenses and then through us. And Blackarachnia has the device. She is the key to the entire situation."

Megatron sat back in his chair as Ravage continued to explain his point.

"Blackarachnia wants the device for her own power," Ravage said nervously, "She's not about to share it with the rest of the Maximals, and since they are using the Ark as a base, she's bound to take the device to a different location."

"I see," Megatron commented, "And given that silver fuzor's attraction for her, he is likely to follow. We observe her, and when we strike we get to destroy one Maximal and one traitor."

"Or more," Ravage commented, "Any strike team that goes out may run into one of Optimus's patrol teams or Maximal reinforcements."

"Which would make a later assault on the Ark stand a much better chance of winning," Megatron smiled and then turned to face the other Predicons who had remained silent, "Waspinator, Scorpinok, you two are to shadow Blackarachnia and any Maximal that accompanies her, most likely Silverbolt."

"Of course, Megatron," Scorpinok answered as he and Waspinator left.

"Meanwhile, Terrorsaur, Inferno, you will scout the perimeter of the Maximal base," Megatron commanded, "If Optimus tries to reinforce whatever position the she-spider takes up, you are to deal with it."

"At once, Royalty!" Inferno bowed and headed of the room.

**Elsewhere**

"There," Blackarachnia commented as she finished constructing the listening post.

The female spider then activated her own radio to communicate with the others back at the Ark.

"Okay, your listening post has been established," Blackarachnia reported, "I'll be back at the base soon."

The spider then transformed to her beast mode and moved toward a small cave nearby. Inside she had established a series of devices that she thought would activate the transmetal driver. Most of it was small computer panel and wires that would connect directly to her from the transmetal driver itself. She had also installed a small metal bowl to hold the transmetal driver. She also established a small cot nearby to lie down on while her frame would undergo the transmetal transformation. After inspecting the cave, and determining that it was satisfactory, she left.

Not far away, Waspinator and Scorpinok watched the female Predicon leave the cave and begin to head towards the Ark.

"Follow her!" Scorpinok commanded, "I will inspect the cave."

Waspinator gave a frustrated sigh and buzzed off, being sure to avoid being detected. Despite his upgrade to a transmetal two, Waspinator didn't want to risk damage, unless it was absolutely necessary. Scorpinok meanwhile crawled into the same cave that Blackarachnia had just left. The transmetal two clone looked around the cave and then activated his own radio.

"Scorpinok to Megatron," Scorpinok began.

"Yes," came the Predicon tyrant's voice over the radio.

"Blackarachnia is indeed establishing a secret lab, as Ravage hypothesized," Scorpinok reported, "It's hidden in cave near a listening post that she just established."

The radio was silent for a few moments before Megatron answered again.

"Interesting," Megatron answered over the radio, "Attack the lab when you know she's returned to it with the transmetal driver. Destroy the listening post on your way."

**Predicon Base**

Megatron meanwhile sighed as Scorpinok ended his transmission. The clone had reported a listening post in the area, which had undoubtedly picked up the radio transmission that Scorpinok sent back to the Darkside. He would have to monitor Blackarachnia's activities for a longer period of time now, as the Maximals had surely heard the radio communication between Megatron and Scorpinok.

"Problems, Megatron?" Tarantulus asked from a nearby computer terminal.

"Just the normal ones," Megatron sighed, "Nothing that a little brains wouldn't fix."

**The Ark**

Silverbolt leaned back heavily in the radio room of the Ark. Optimus had ordered him there to do monitor duty, and now, the Maximal fuzor wished he hadn't accepted the job. He heard all of the conversation between Megatron and Scorpinok. The implications of what was said were important. First of all, it meant that Blackarachnia had the transmetal driver somewhere in the Ark and that the Predicons were going to try and take it back from her. Second, since Blackarachnia had a secret lab near the listening post that she had just established, it was obvious that she intended to use the transmetal driver. This could only lead to the obvious conclusion that Blackarachnia had lied in her report that she had only gone into the Darkside to rescue Dinobot and didn't have time to try and get the transmetal driver. Silverbolt knew that any one of these things could get the female into trouble.

Silverbolt didn't want Blackarachnia to be in any trouble with Optimus. Despite her protests, the fuzor had done everything possible to try make her more of a Maximal. He couldn't report this. If he did, the female spider would surely be interrogated. But, on the other hand, Silverbolt also knew that Rhinox wanted the transmetal driver for the purposes of studying the alien technology. He couldn't let Blackarachnia hide the fact that she had the device forever either. Silverbolt hoped that the femme-bot would come clean on her own. He didn't want to have to betray her.

Suddenly he heard Optimus and Rhinox discussing something as the two robots entered the room.

"I'm not saying we assault the Darkside to get the transmetal driver, but we should be on the alert for any more alien signals," Rhinox commented, "They're scientifically interesting and in Megatron's hands, they've done more harm then good."

"I know, Rhinox," Optimus answered, "But the problem is that we don't control the planet, even if Megatron weren't here fighting us, we wouldn't control the planet. There's simply too few of us to find, identify, and protect all these alien signatures. And we are not assaulting the Darkside to get the transmetal driver. The information you've discovered with Dinobot and Cheetor is all very fascinating, but I'm not going to risk my men to try and figure out every scientific curiosity that we've come across."

"I'm not suggesting that," Rhinox insisted, "I'm merely saying that we need to be on the alert for these alien signatures and try to protect them. They're bound to Megatron's targets now, since we can't assault their base and they can't assault ours."

"I'll try that," Optimus sighed, "Thank you, Rhinox."

Optimus then turned around to see that Silverbolt had been following the entire conversation that he had been having with Rhinox.

"Anything on the radio?" Optimus asked.

"Everything's pretty quiet right now, Optimus," Silverbolt answered.

"Keep listening," Optimus commented, "Megatron is likely to try something and soon."

Optimus then turned back to Rhinox and motioned with one hand, "Come on, we'd best go on to check on Rattrap. See if Cheetor, Depthcharge, Dinobot, and Rapther have reported anything from their patrols."

**That Night**

Blackarachnia carefully made her way to the Ark's exit, with the transmetal driver securely hidden inside an internal compartment. She made sure to remain quiet to avoid Rattrap and Cheetor, who were on monitor duty. She smiled to herself at her success in avoiding them as she made her way outside the Ark. She converted to her beast mode and moved off toward her secret lab. There was a brief pause of quiet, before Silverbolt also slipped out of the Ark and began to follow Blackarachnia from the air.

"I hate spiders," Terrorsaur commented from his hiding spot next to Inferno as they watched Blackarachnia and then Silverbolt leave the Ark.

"We must locate Scorpinok and Waspinator at once," Inferno answered, "Since Megatron has ordered that this mission contain radio silence."

The insane ant then transformed to his beast mode and began marching toward where Waspinator and Scorpinok were waiting.

"Just remember we're supposed to make sure the Maximals can't send reinforcements to Blackarachnia's position," Terrorsaur commented as he began to fly slowly after the ant.

"This is boring," Waspinator whined from his hiding spot elsewhere in a forested region near the Ark, "Waspinator would rather be back in his bunk, asleep."

"Just remember that you can't," Scorpinok scolded from below him, the transmetal two clone was in his beast mode.

A few minutes later, Waspinator saw Blackarachnia moving close to their position, in beast mode.

"Female spider-bot is approaching," Waspinator reported excitedly.

"Does she have the transmetal driver?" Scorpinok asked.

"Waspinator does not know," Waspinator answered, "Wait a minute…"

The wasp had stopped his report when he saw another Maximal following Blackarachnia. It was Silverbolt.

"Doggie bot is following female spider bot," Waspinator finished.

"We need to follow them until we know that Arachnia has the transmetal driver," Scorpinok urged.

Inferno and Terrorsaur arrived almost at the same time. Terrorsaur noticed that Waspinator's optics were following the Predicon traitor and the Maximal.

"I see you've noticed that our little friend is on the move," Terrorsaur commented with a slight chuckle.

"Yes," Scorpinok nodded, "You two wait here and make sure that the Maximals can't help them."

Terrorsaur and Inferno nodded, Inferno somewhat reluctantly, and moved to watch for any possible Maximal reinforcements while Waspinator and Scorpinok continued to follow Blackarachnia.

Blackarachnia continued on her way until she made it to her 'secret' lab, still unaware of both Silverbolt following her and Waspinator and Scorpinok following behind him. Transforming to her robot mode, she produced the transmetal driver and placed it in the machine she intended to use to upgrade herself to the transmetal level. She was startled slightly when she heard a new voice from behind her.

"What are you doing?" came Silverbolt's voice from behind her.

"Silverbolt!" Blackarachnia jumped, turning around and then began speaking in a much harsher voice, "What are you doing here dog-boy?"

"One could ask you the same thing," Silverbolt answered, "What are you doing out here, alone, and with, if that's what I think it is, the transmetal driver?"

"I'm just out here," Blackarachnia answered, "And this is nothing. I don't have the transmetal driver."

Silverbolt sighed and transformed to his robot mode.

"Blackarachnia, I know you have the driver," Silverbolt said firmly, "I was on monitor duty when you were establishing the listening post in this area. Shortly after you left, I intercepted a Predicon radio message."

"That could mean anything," Blackarachnia shot back.

"It was Scorpinok reporting to Megatron that his recon mission was a success and that he found this lab," Silverbolt finished, "They know you have the driver and they're intending to get it back."

Outside the cave, Waspinator and Scorpinok stopped near the entrance to Blackarachnia's cave. Scorpinok, still in beast mode, looked over at the nearby listening station. The interlocking pieces of pipe that made up the radio tower barely reached the top of the trees.

"Alright, Waspinator, you go in and deal with the spider and the fuzor," Scorpinok ordered, "I'll take care of their listening station, then I'll come help finish them off."

"Oh, Waspinator get fun job," Waspinator said excitedly, "Waspinator will slag female spider-bot."

"Why are you doing this?" Silverbolt asked, "Why did you lie to Optimus?"

"Power, you moron," Blackarachnia growled back, "Get it through your thick skull that I'm not a good girl. I'm not a Maximal. The only reason I'm even helping your side is because I don't want to die so Megatron can conquer Cybertron."

"I'm sure the others would let you use the transmetal driver for whatever purposes you want to use it for…" Silverbolt began to argue.

"No they wouldn't," Blackarachnia retorted quickly, "Rhinox wants to study it because of what happened to Cheetor and Dinobot. He'll undoubtedly find it too dangerous for a transformer to use and Optimus will agree. They'll then either lock the device up or destroy it. Then, I'd never get a chance to be a transmetal."

"Why do you want to be a transmetal anyway?" Silverbolt asked, "You've taken on some of the Predicons's current transmetals in your present configuration and won. Why take the risk?"

Blackarachnia sighed heavily. Either the silver fuzor lived in a fantasy world or he was dumber then Waspinator.

"It's not that I feel inadequate," Blackarachnia gave an aggravated sigh, "It's the power that I want. A simple transmetal, like Rattrap or Tarantulus, is more powerful then the original configuration, like me or Rhinox. A transmetal two, like Dinobot or Optimus, is more powerful then a simple transmetal. It's that kind of power that I want."

Silverbolt sighed, and said nothing. He didn't quite know how to deal with the answers that Blackarachnia had given him. There were a lot of facts to them. Earlier in the Beast Wars, Silverbolt had nodded the power that the transmetals represented. While Inferno was the more fanatical fighter, and much more willing to risk his own destruction to defeat the Maximals, Silverbolt noticed that Tarantulus was always the more feared of the two in direct combat, despite the fact that the transmetal spider was fairly ineffective in direct battle. The transmetals more powerful weaponry and armor, compensated for the weakness of abilities in some transformers or enhanced others. While the fuzor knew that what Blackarachnia was doing was dangerous and probably shouldn't be done for other reasons as well, he understood the temptation to use the transmetal driver.

"So, where are the rest of the Maximals in this little attempt to try and stop me?" Blackarachnia asked, bringing Silverbolt out of his thoughts.

"They don't know," Silverbolt answered, "I didn't tell them anything."

Blackarachnia gave a low chuckle and began connecting the wires that were connected to the transmetal driver to herself.

"I think I'm rubbing off on you," Blackarachnia smiled, "Lying to your commander isn't very noble dog boy."

"Love is noble," Silverbolt argued, "And I love you too much to let you make a mistake."

"I'm not making a mistake, so don't go to mush," Blackarachnia said back harshly.

"Mush sounds like a good idea," came a new voice from behind them.

Both turned to see Waspinator standing at the entrance to the lab part of the cave. The wasp had his darts ready to fire.

"No!" Blackarachnia said nervously, "I haven't activated the device yet!"

Waspinator laughed as he fired his darts directly at Blackarachnia. The femme-bot was becoming very nervous that she'd lose her chance at becoming a transmetal know, as she had only just finished connecting herself to the wires that were already connected with the transmetal driver. Silverbolt saw this, and leaped in front of the incoming darts that Waspinator had launched. The darts exploded on impact and threw Silverbolt against the far wall of the cave.

"Silverbolt!" Blackarachnia exclaimed nervously.

"Fear not," Silverbolt answered, "I'll keep him busy while you do your experiment."

Silverbolt then sat up and fired his wing missiles at the transmetal two Predicon. The blast didn't do much damage to Waspinator, but it did throw the Predicon against the wall he stood in front off and allowed Blackarachnia to activate the machinery she had hooked both herself and the transmetal driver up to. Silverbolt glanced to see Blackarachnia lying on the cot and wrapped in an eerie red glow.

"I pray to the Matrix that I'm right," Silverbolt mumbled before charging Waspinator.

Outside the cave, and closer to the listening post that Blackarachnia had earlier established, Scorpinok stood in robot and was trying to destroy the tower. The cloned transformer had tried pulling the whole structure over, but it was too deeply cemented in the ground. Scorpinok then took a steep back.

"More then one way to kill a Maximal," Scorpinok commented with an evil grin and fired his pincer missiles at the base of the radio tower.

The resulting explosion destroyed the bottom part of the tower, and Scorpinok laughed as the rest of the radio tower then fell on the rest of the equipment needed to make the rest of the listening post work.

"One listening post destroyed," Scorpinok laughed, "Scorpinok to Megatron. Listening post has been destroyed, we're now moving in on Blackarachnia."

Scorpinok then began to run toward the entrance to the cave when he found Silverbolt literally carrying Waspinator out of it.

"What the?" Scorpinok asked in confusion.

"Put Waspinator down!" Waspinator screamed.

"Alright," Silverbolt answered and threw Waspinator into Scorpinok.

After throwing the wasp, Silverbolt fired his wing missiles again. The blast did little, if any, damage, but pushed the two Predicons back. He then activated his own radio.

"Silverbolt to Maximal base, come in," Silverbolt said urgently, "Come in."

"Cool your gears, Bird-dog," Rattrap's voice answered over the radio, "Whatcha got? And why are you outside the base?"

"Blackarachnia and I were out for a walk and we've run into Waspinator and Scorpinok," Silverbolt quickly as he dodged several of Waspinator's darts.

"Just know all the romantic points, don'tcha?" Rattrap teased back, "Hold on, I'll see what I can cobble together for a rescue team."

"Please hurry," Silverbolt said into the radio and fired his wing missiles at the two Predicons again.

**The Ark**

Optimus and Depthcharge quickly blasted out of the Ark after hearing Rattrap's report. Both flew as fast as they could toward where Silverbolt and Blackarachnia were as quick as the two of them possibly could.

"You ought to tell the knight to keep his romantic endeavors closer to base," Depthcharge grumbled, "Or with a Maximal for that matter."

"That's unimportant," Optimus responded, "If they're destroyed, we're short two Maximals. Even if Blackarachnia's official allegiance is to the Predicons."

"Whatever," Depthcharge snorted back, "It still ruined my night."

Optimus remained quiet, wanting to avoid an argument. They flew a little ways until a powerful laser blast hit the Maximal commander unaware.

"What the?" Depthcharge questioned as he watched Optimus get thrown back through the air by a few yards and then recover.

The transmetal manta ray then looked down to see Terrorsaur taking flight to challenge them and Inferno firing on them from the ground.

"I'll deal with this one," Optimus said as he recovered, still in vehicle mode, "You deal with Inferno."

Optimus flew past Depthcharge and began firing his blasters on Terrorsaur as the Predicon attempted to gain some altitude. Depthcharge sighed and drew his shark blaster and dove down toward Inferno. The insane ant was firing fire blasts out of the flame throwers mounted on one arm. Dodging them, Depthcharge fired several blasts from his shark blaster at Inferno. The ant dodged two, but was hit by another two and knocked to the ground.

Depthcharge then landed on Inferno's chest, and put his full weight on the Predicon. Depthcharge then fired his shark blaster again, this time at point blank range at Inferno's head. The resulting explosion threw Depthcharge back into the air and knocked Inferno out. Depthcharge fired three more blasts at Inferno to make sure.

Terrorsaur dodged a few of Optimus's shots, but the Maximal commander did manage to land a few hits that forced the other transmetal two clone to lose some control of his flight. He occasionally managed to get a shot off at the Maximal commander, but Optimus dodged most of the shots or maneuvered so that the shot hit where Optimus had extra layers of armor. The impact of two powerful energy blasts in his chest plate armor broke his flight pattern and surprised the clone. Terrorsaur looked down to see Depthcharge coming in at an angle that would pin the clone down between the transmetal manta and the transmetal two gorilla. What surprised Terrorsaur more was that Inferno lay unconscious on the ground.

"We got you now," Depthcharge smiled.

"Slag," Terrorsaur cursed and broke off his engagement, diving hard and fast for the ground and grabbing Inferno as he went.

Depthcharge only growled at the sight of the fleeing Predicon.

"Come on," Optimus sighed, "We still need to save Silverbolt and Blackarachnia."

**Outside the Cave**

Scorpinok was growing tired of the battle with the Maximal fuzor. Silverbolt had managed to dodge most of his shots and had suffered little damage, and Waspinator had done little to help. The wasp fired at almost everything that Silverbolt stood in front of and gave the Maximal plenty of shattered rock to hide behind.

"I'm gonna end this," Scorpinok growled and raised his tail and fired a missile from where the stinger would be on a real scorpion.

The missile flew toward the silver fuzor, and while Silverbolt dodged the missile's first pass, this missile unlike the others was locked onto Silverbolt and turned around and came back after it missed. Waspinator then fired his darts, hit Silverbolt as he was preparing to dodge Scorpinok's missile for a second time. The combined explosion of Waspinator's darts and Scorpinok's missile threw Silverbolt against a large rock near the entrance to the cave where Blackarachnia's secret lab was. Silverbolt groaned as he looked to see that his wings were damaged.

"Waspinator get him!" Waspinator exclaimed in triumph and ran forward.

"I don't think so, insect," came Blackarachnia's voice from inside the cave.

Waspinator paused and looked into the cave and saw a small bluish disk with two orangish-yellow jaws on a powerful cord come flying out and hit the transmetal two wasp. The jaws easily managed to pierce Waspinator's armor, and within seconds, the Predicon was in stasis lock from exposure to cybervenom.

Silverbolt looked up to see a transmetal two femmebot walk out of the cave. She was mostly a midnight-blue in terms of color, although the armor around her upper chest area and a set of raised shoulder guards were a red-violet color. Her hips, shins, and mask that went around part of her face and head were golden in color. She looked out through ruby red optics. Eight spider-like legs held out behind her back were jet black. Silverbolt also noticed that she had three digits on each hand, and in addition to that, had two raised golden colored talons on each hand that moved as she moved the finger that was under them.

"Blackarachnia?" Silverbolt asked, "Is that you?"

"Yeah, it's me," Blackarachnia nodded, "You okay?"

Silverbolt nodded, "I'll be fine."

"Not for long!" Scorpinok yelled and fired several pincer missiles at the two transformers.

Blackarachnia quickly grabbed Silverbolt and leaped away from cave entrance. Scorpinok's missiles only destroyed the rock that Silverbolt had been leaning against. Scorpinok then looked up to see Optimus and Depthcharge coming in from the air. It was now two transmetal twos, a transmetal, and a heavily damaged fuzor. And Waspinator was also damaged as well. The clone couldn't stay there.

"You win this fight, Maximals," Scorpinok conceited, "But there will be other days."

Scorpinok then grabbed Waspinator and ran off. Optimus and Depthcharge landed near Blackarachnia and Silverbolt as the Predicon disappeared among the trees.

"Blackarachnia?" Optimus gasped in surprise at seeing her transmetal two form, "How did this happen?"

Silverbolt began to say something, but Blackarachnia silenced him.

"Well, first I've got to confess something," Blackarachnia sighed, deciding to repay Silverbolt for not telling Optimus earlier, and taking on Waspinator and Scorpinok to allow her to become a transmetal two, "I lied to you in my initial report about rescuing Dinobot from the Predicon base. I did rescue him, but my primary purpose for being there was to get the transmetal driver…"

"So you go do that to yourself?" Depthcharge guessed.

Blackarachnia nodded. Optimus then sighed heavily and crossed his arms.

"You've broken more then half a dozen Maximal protocols," Optimus scolded, "If it weren't for the fact that you still identify yourself as a Predicon allied with my faction, I would have you punished for your actions. But in coalition warfare, I can't expect you to be one hundred percent loyal or obedient. Right now, I can only say, I hope you've gained what you needed with the transmetal driver, because you will hand over the device to Rhinox for study. That device has caused a hell of a lot of confusion and trouble. The sooner we know it works, the better."

"What?" Depthcharge growled, "You're not going to punish her for this? Silverbolt's been seriously wounded because of her!"

"Silverbolt left of his own accord, I'm sure," Optimus answered, "Probably to try and get her to change. He probably succeeded on some level if Blackarachnia was willing to confess all this to us."

"She should still be punished," Depthcharge growled, "I know you wouldn't let me get away with this."

Optimus sighed again, and turned to face Blackarachnia, "Neither of you are to leave the Ark without notifying Rhinox or myself that you are leaving and what your purposes are. And neither of you are to leave without the other."

Blackarachnia glared at Depthcharge and then said, "Fine."

"As you command, sir," Silverbolt answered, "I do feel possibly responsible. I should have done something sooner…"

"It's nothing," Optimus sighed.

**The Next Day**

"Well," Rhinox commented, "It's junk."

"What?" Optimus asked.

"I've examined the transmetal driver as thoroughly as I can," Rhinox answered, "And the only thing I've found is that it's out of power."

"It's out of power?" Optimus asked, not believing a word.

Rhinox nodded and threw the transmetal driver into waste disposal unit nearby, "And on top of it, we have no clue as to what it needs for power, so there was never a chance of knowing what could have recharged it."

"At least it means that all this business involving new transmetals is over then," Optimus sighed, "Megatron can't create any more."

"That madness is indeed over," Rhinox agreed.

**The End**


End file.
